Managing People and Technology for Enhancing Competitiveness

Abstract

Technology underpins business. This is evident in service sectors like the software industry, which is global in nature. The management of technology is well known in the software industry, where software professionals are the key enabler and knowledge carriers. The performance of the firm depends on the effective management of the technology by its workforce. Indian software industry is well known for its skilled software professionals and their technological knowledge to handle the domestic market and global projects as well. However, the global market share of Indian software industry is less than two percent. With such a dismal market share, can the Indian software industry call itself a global player? In view of this, there is a need to re-look into the strategies for sustainable and healthy industry. This paper discusses two key issues, people and technology, for enhancing the competitiveness of the software industry of India. The article also presents two case studies dealing with the issues related to the people and technology and examines how software firms explore the technology advantages in software development Operations.     

Laying the groundwork-an analysis of how to get started with operations analysis

To make operations analysis a pervasive force in education, it is as important to be systematic and disciplined in deciding which projects to undertake as it does to show these virtues once we have selected a problem and are pressing for a solution. Progress means thinking about objectives, including the objective of demonstrating that operations analysis is relevant for education and of establishing a climate of acceptance for the new methods. Progress means concern for people and politics and an eye for initial projects that are hard to bungle. We have little to gain in pitting scarce talent and betting the reputation of operations analysis on situations which we can do little to improve. Meaningful solutions, for the administrator, are solutions that he can manage politically and that do not require impossible increases in staff or budgets to implement. Shrewdness in choosing projects that fit what we can do with operations analysis, though, does not mean picking insignificant problems. Operations analysis must understand the larger issues in American education and set its priorities to fit. We can better afford honest failure than irrelevance.     

浙江省纺织工程教育结构探析

纺织工业是我国国民经济的传统支柱产业和重要的民生产业,作为纺织工业后备人才培养的摇篮——纺织工程教育情况直接影响到该行业的振兴。本文从层次结构和类型结构对纺织大省——浙江省的纺织工程教育结构现状进行了相关探析。     

Analysing Your Multivariate Data as a Pictorial: A Case for Applying Biplot Methodology?

This paper illustrates the versatility of biplot methodology when analysing multivariate data from diverse disciplines. The modern approach of Gower & Hand (1996) whereby biplots are regarded as multivariate analogues of ordinary scatter plots is utilised for extending biplot methodology introducing several novel applications. Focus is on biplot applications where the merits of principal component biplots and canonical variate analysis biplots are illustrated with data sets from higher education, the manufacturing industry, the mining industry, agriculture, finance and archaeology. It is shown how to equip biplots with quality regions, classification regions and acceptance regions; how a -bags superimposed on biplots provide a quantification of the multidimensional overlap of classes as well as enable biplots to be used with large data sets; how to use biplots for exploring multi-dimensional reality and in sophisticated classification procedures.     

经营战略形态的组成项目研究

经营战略强调的是多元化企业中的各SBU或单一业务的企业在特定产业领域中的生存、竞争与发展之道,因此在战略层级中处于承上启下的关键位置。但当前对经营战略分析过于偏重于工具如SWOT分析或偏重于针对某个特定公司和产业来进行,缺乏整体性。分析经营战略应立足于其本质即描述特定业务当前的经营战略形态和未来某一时间点该经营战略形态的变化情况,战略形态则通过一些项目来共同描述,这样的分析不但思路简明清晰,而且考虑全面,能有助于提升企业经营战略管理的有效性。     

The scholarly exchange of knowledge in Operations Management

A number of studies have investigated the quality of journals in Operations Management. This research steps back from these studies and investigates the exchange of ideas within Operations Management journals and between other management disciplines (Management, Marketing, and Finance) during the last decade (1998–2007). Journal citation metrics provide a measure for the exchange of scholarly ideas. Operations Management (OM) journals show a willingness to cross-pollinate ideas with other management disciplines. But, they also tend to have a higher level of self citations and lower level of within discipline citation exchanges when compared to other management disciplines. As a result, Operations Management journals may reflect methodological silos in the field that could potentially dampen scholarly exchange. In general, increasing the diversity of scholarly exchanges within Operations Management, and conducting more cross-disciplinary research with other management disciples should improve the scholarly development of Operations Management.     

Historical development of the school for deaf children which was opened in Cyprus under the British Administration

In this paper, the School for Deaf Children that was opened under the rule of the British Administration in Cyprus is examined. The school was opened in the 1953–1954 academic year and became the second private education institution on the island. Additionally, it was a mixed school that served both the Greek and Turkish communities. Although the school was initially opened with contributions from the Rotary Club, it continued to provide educational services with funds from the British Administration, students’ parents and voluntary contributions. During the period of mixed education, the school could not adopt a fully settled structure in terms of the building in which it was locate and was moved to different areas during that period. In the period when the British government transferred responsibility for the education on the island to the Greek and Turkish communities, the school continued to provide services on a mixed basis. However, after the events of 1963, the Turkish teachers and students began to leave the school. Today, it continues its activities in southern Nicosia, whereas in the northern part of the island, the Lapta School for People with Hearing and Speaking Disabilities was opened in 1975 in order for Turkish students to continue their education. The present study is supported with information obtained from Education reports and Cyprus Gazette resources as well as national and international works and verbal resources.

     

保证民间审计独立性措施研究

独立性是民间审计的本质特征,是审计质量的基本保证。我国目前民间审计独立性水平不高,究其原因,既有外部环境法制不完善且执法不严等原因;又有被审计单位法人治理结构不完善,事务所聘任制度存在缺陷等产生的影响;还有民间审计行业自身职业道德、事务所的规模等影响因素。针对目前情况,要通过制度的规范特别是完善民事赔偿制度约束审计人员的行为;必须解决被审计单位聘任并支付审计费用的问题;另外事务所必须增强自身实力,从而提高其抵御外界压力及增强自身独立性的能力。总之,只有各方共同努力,才能使民间审计的独立性得到加强,促进民间审计的进一步发展。     

Determinants of Entry in an Emerging Economy: A Multilevel Approach

The dynamics of the world economy and global competition patterns are encouraging multinational enterprises (MNEs) to expand into emerging economies. This study validates the proposition that entry mode selection in an emerging economy is influenced by situational contingencies at four levels: nation, industry, firm, and project. Analysis of data collected from China suggests that the joint venture is preferred when perceived governmental intervention or environmental uncertainty is high or host country experience is low. The wholly-owned entry mode is preferred when intellectual property rights are not well protected, the number of firms in the industry is growing fast, the need for global integration is high, or the project is located in an open economic region. The importance of these multilevel determinants requires simultaneous and inseparable considerations of the risk, return, control, and resource effects of the entry mode decision. This necessitates a theoretical integration of multiple perspectives such as transaction cost, the eclectic paradigm, bargaining power, and organizational capability.     

Other stories of resilient safety management in the Norwegian offshore sector: Resilience engineering,bullshit and the de-politicization of danger

This paper explores the different conceptual meanings of the term resilience as it is used and interpreted by industry actors in the Norwegian oil and gas industry, as well as the possible wider ramifications of this use. This is done by presenting three different theoretical readings, or stories, of the recent proliferation of the term in the industry. The stories are supported by empirical material stemming from document studies, interviews and ethnographic fieldwork in the industry. Safety Management academics and practitioners in the industry generally rely on conceptions derived from Resilience Engineering (RE), which is consequently the perspective used in the first story. Here, we outline the RE-perspective and explore how it might justify the spread of, and apparent need for, resilience, as well as those empirical qualities of operations that the concept purports to refer to. The second story utilizes the concept of organizational bullshit in order to examine some of the ways in which the resilience concept is used to impress and invoke organizational legitimacy, without necessarily having much tangible connection to day-to-day operations. The third reading connects the resilience concept to the rise of neoliberalism, and explores its potential for depoliticizing risk and danger as well as facilitating the responsibilization of offshore workers. In addition to presenting the different conceptual meanings of resilience in the Norwegian oil and gas sector, the paper also provides resources for discussing the potential ramifications of these conceptions     

高等职业技术教育校企合作实践与探讨——以佛山职业技术学院为例

产学合作教育是高职教育发展的必然趋势．它将学校教育与生产实践有机结合,学生、学校、企业三方都能受益。通过对高职院校校企合作实践及其存在问题的探讨．并以佛山职业技术学院校企合作实践为例作讨论．进行SWOT分析,探讨其校企合作教育发展方向,并在此基础上探讨推进高职校企合作教育发展的对策。     

Present and future: a trend forecasting and ranking of university types for innovative development from an intellectual capital perspective

In today’s knowledge-based economy, by well intellectual capital (IC) managing to enhance innovative ability and performance has become critical as many nations struggle to gain sustainable competitive advantage. Knowledge, innovation, and IC are at a university’s core. Given its function of cultivating innovative assets, R&D researchers, hi-tech professions and interdisciplinary talent, universities have become a critical factor in building sustainable competitive advantages worldwide. The important role universities play is particularly essential in Taiwan. The hi-tech industry, as the most profitable industry sector, directly impacts the growth of the Taiwanese economy. However, as global competition in higher education becomes fierce, higher education in Taiwan is losing its competitive standing and global market share for students and, additionally, Taiwan is losing its overall competitive advantage in the global economy. Universities today face significantly unbalanced student enrollment numbers and several universities have failed to keep operating from late 2008 to 2009. In order to understand both current and future development trends in higher education and to conquer above difficulties, it has become crucial to understand the manifestation of innovative development with respect to IC for different university types. In this regard, the aim of this study was to explore the rankings of five university types in terms of innovative development from an IC perspective and to provide recommendations for future improvements, taking basic development trends into account. Trend forecasting from Grey Model (GM) was initially used to investigate and forecast current and future Taiwanese birth rates and the basic development trends of five university types. After that, VIKOR was utilized to rank the five university types in accordance with opinions from twenty senior experts with regard to IC. In agreement with the research findings, universities in Taiwan are encouraged to improve their innovative ability from an IC perspective in order to regain a sustainable competitive advantage globally in the future.     

The Recontextualization of Management: A Discourse‐based Approach to Analysing the Development of Management Thinking*

ABSTRACT Many analysts have sought to explain the development and growth of management ideas and discourse in recent years, using notions such as the diffusion and consumption of ideas, and analogies with the fashion industry. These frameworks have a number of weaknesses that inhibit their value. Conceptualizing management knowledge or ideas or thinking as a form of discourse leads us to alternative frameworks for examining developments in this field. Critical Discourse Analysis (CDA) can be used to explore the social processes and structures from which discourse emanates and which discourse in turn underpins. Bernstein's concept of recontextualization can be employed to analyse the discursive relations between different social spheres or conjunctures within which human action takes place and how discourse is changed as it moves between conjunctures to meet the needs of different social agents. In this respect it can be used to analyse how management discourse unfolds as it is produced, distributed and acquired by agents within the academic, consultant and practitioner conjunctures. By doing so we can explore: the intertextual relations between the discourses; how the management discourse becomes technologized; and how hybrid forms of discourse, which mix genres and styles, emerge.     

A JIT-type stocking system for hospital pharmacies: the stockless method

During the past few years, hospitals have been actively evaluating the use of newer-type stocking systems for their pharmacies. While "stockless," a just-in-time (JIT) variation, appears to be emerging as perhaps the most promising method, it is far from being accepted as the industry standard. Because of growing concern for health care reform, with its cost containment component, it may well be anticipated that both the pace and profoundness of these efforts will continue to intensify.     

高职高专物流管理人才培养模式的研究与实践

随着现代物流行业的发展,物流管理人才出现了巨大的市场需求.作为一所较早开设物流管理专业的高等院校,广西财经学院逐渐形成了自己的一套人才培养思路.本文以此为基础,首先分析了高职高专物流管理人才培养目标的定位,然后从课程体系的构建,师资队伍的培养,教学手段和方法的创新等三个方面阐述了人才培养目标的实现.通过研究,旨在建立一套适应高职高专发展需要的物流管理人才培养模式.     

我国房地产专业人才培养路径研究

房地产问题事关群众切身利益和社会稳定,是重要的民生问题之一;而房地产人才培养的质量又对行业能否健康、持续和稳定发展产生直接影响。本文以贯彻《国家中长期教育改革和发展规划纲要(2010-2020年)》、服务房地产业发展为主线,通过分析研究房地产行业和国内外房地产专业教育现状及特点,指出我国目前房地产教育存在的主要问题,并对此提出了相应对策。笔者认为,建立科学合理的房地产人才系统培养体系、创建行业企业深度参与学校人才培养的工作机制、实施符合房地产行业人才成长规律的培养方法、开拓国际视野培养房地产人才和加快建立房地产教育优质资源库等是我国房地产专业人才培养的最佳路径。     

Persistence of financial efficiency in indian hospitality and tourism industry: a dynamic panel Approach

This paper analyses the degree of persistence of financial efficiency for the hospitality and tourism industry in India. The paper deploys the Data Envelopment Analysis technique to generate overall technical efficiency scores as well as pure technical efficiency scores. Furthermore, a dynamic panel technique proposed by Arellano and Bond (1991), is employed to test the degree of persistence of financial efficiency and its key determinants. The results confirm positive and significant persistence of efficiency for the sample firms from the hospitality industry in India. The overall results indicate that hospitality firms in India can create entry and exit barriers to generate positive persistence of financial efficiency. The study suggests regulators specifically focus on policies that can enhance the competitive dynamics of the industry. Such measures may make it imperative for the management of the firms in the sector to streamline their financial management policies to control costs and devise methods for the enhancement of revenues.

     

Entrepreneurial intentions, motivations and barriers: Differences among American, Asian and European students

Should entrepreneurship education be the same in every country or should it be adapted to each context? In addition to answering this question, it appears to be important to identify the concerns students have regarding their entrepreneurship education programs, so as to strengthen their perceptions of feasibility and desirability of an entrepreneurial career. In this article we examine whether differences exist among American, Asian and European students in terms of entrepreneurial intentions and dispositions, as well as motivations and perceived barriers for business startup. Results indicate that entrepreneurial disposition and intentions differ by country but that students across countries are motivated and/or discouraged by similar variables. However, our results indicate that the levels of sensitivity to each motivator and barrier differ by country. Our results support the argument made by past researches that cultural differences should be taken into consideration when developing entrepreneurship education programs.     

形象设计高职教育问题探讨

我国的美容美发业在改革开放的30多年时间里有了飞速的发展。我国美容专业职业教育体系框架已经形成,但还不能满足社会对美容美发业的要求和需求,还需要在专业技能上有所提高。本文则试图从美容美发业中的形象设计入手分析高职教育的现状以及所存在的问题,进而移出一些相应的建议。