A communications plan for Mexico: Opportunity for recovery

On the basis of the current state of development of the Mexican telecommunications network, a plan is proposed to expand the national communications infrastructure on the lines of the effort demonstrated in the transmission of the Olympic Games in 1968. The author describes the organisational structure of communications services in Mexico and assesses their impact on the national economy through import and export activities. He then proposes a set of policies and strategies and suggests priorities on which immediate action should be taken. He concludes with an examination of long-term forecasting for telephone, telex and television.     

The public service potential of videotex and teletext

There are many public service applications for videotext such as closed captioning, librabry resources, educational aids, and dissemination of agricultural, community, and government information. Because videotext developed in a commercial environment, these applications have not yet been fully realized. However, a number of small scale experiments are being conducted in several countries. The author reviews the most noteworthy of these experiments. He also raises a number of policy questions concerning future use of vodeotext for public service.     

Closing speech

M. Pilliard explained that he was not speaking as an academic, a researcher, a sociologist or a futurologist, but as an industrialist From this starting point he was concerned with broadening the idea of product and extending the role of demand in the search for innovation. He was also concerned with the way in which the different stages of R & D evolution related to the growing interdependence of business with its environment     

Modelling reverse mortgages

This paper suggests a framework for analyzing reverse mortgages in a fixed interest rate environment as well as a variable interest rate environment. To analyze the risk and potential profit of a reverse mortgage, we propose to calculate the expected present value of profit and the probability of loss as indicators of the viability of the loan. Using Singapore data, we provide some estimates of these quantities for various levels of annuity payment under different circumstances.The author is from the Department of Economics and Statistics, National University of Singapore. He wishes to thank Chan Wai Sum, Thomas Herzog, Lim Kian Guan (the previous chief editor), Tan Kin Lian and Albert Tsui for their invaluable comments on the earlier drafts of the paper. All errors and shortcomings, however, remain his responsibility.     

The relationship between technology and science: Some historical and philosophical reflections. Part II

Dr Paul Gardner was appointed to the Faculty of Education at Monash University in 1967 and is currently a Reader in Education. After graduating from the University of Melbourne with a science degree and teacher qualifications in 1960, he taught physics and chemistry in high schools for six years. He obtained the M. Ed. degree from the University of Melbourne in 1970 for a thesis which involved experimental studies of concept attainment, and in 1972 completed a Ph.D. at Monash for an investigation of student and teacher characteristics which influence students' attitudes to physics. His major field of interest is science education, and he has published extensively on the assessment of cognitive and affective outcomes, the role of language in learning science and (his current major interest) the links between science and technology. He was a founding member of the university's Centre for Science, Mathematics and Technology Education in 1989. He is currently the Editor ofResearch in Science Education, the annual journal of the Australasian Science Education Research Association, of which he was a founding member in 1970. Early in 1993, he presented a paper on science-technology relationships at a UNESCO-sponsored conference in Jerusalem; a revised version of this paper is being published inStudies in Science Education in 1994. He teaches post-graduate courses on statistical analysis, attitude measurement, curriculum issues and science and technology education.     

Does monopoly mean stagnation?

Through a case study of the telecommunications environment in France, the President of the European Conference of PTT Administrations sets out his views on monopoly and deregulation. He challenges the view that a telecommunications monopoly is an obstacle to progress, arguing that each country must evolve the system that is best suited to its economic, cultural and sociopoltical contexts.     

How to Increase the Odds for Successful Brand Extension

Increasingly, new products are being introduced to the market as line extensions. Chester Kane discusses several ways to improve current practices. He argues that several special steps should be taken to obtain maximum leverage from the value of an existing brand name. Starting with efforts to understand customer's perceptions of the brand, he describes a series of approaches that collectively stress planning, objectivity, and the use of appropriate research tools. The article discusses a variety of both successes and failures, noting that seldom do customer's perceptions match current brand marketing strategies, a fact overlooked by many companies.     

Book Review

This issue's book review addresses the important topic of networking. Despite their informal understanding of the need for networks, new product managers have seldom if ever been able to access a formal treatment of this topic. Nor have conferences or seminars included this topic in their development of critical management skills. Blair Little, a professor in the School of Business Administration at the University of Western Ontario, reviews a new book that reports some very intersting Swedish thinking about networking. He reports that the book is worth considering by JPIM's readers, even in light of some unique characteristics of the Swedish environment.     

The outlook for computer mail

The author aims to present a balanced view of the prospects for computer mail, and to bring out the important policy issues surrounding the new medium. After describing, with the aid of a scenario, typical applications of the system, he outlines historical developments and current trends. He then discusses potential market size and develops cost projections. The author sees lack of customer awareness as a serious obstacle to a wider use of computer mail and balances this against a consideration of the relation of the system to organisational needs. Finally, he analyses the policy concerns resulting from the development of computer mail.     

Corporate Innovation and Entrepreneurship: A Canadian Study

In his study of 112 corporate innovations, Russell Knight describes how 100 large Canadian corporations identified innovative ideas, evaluated them, and allocated resources to support their development. These innovations ranged from new product introductions to new processes or systems within these firms. He conducted a series of interviews with managers to explore both the role of corporate entrepreneurs and top management in creating a favorable environment for innovation within the firms, examining the roles of marketing research, research and development, production planning and finance in the process. The article reports several general conclusions regarding the practices of the more successful firms and presents several recommendations concerning how firms should organize to explore, develop and produce new innovative ventures within the corporation. These results are also contrasted with those of an earlier article Knight published in this Journal.     

虎豹的第二本土市场

豪华车品牌捷豹、路虎要想在中国有更大的发展,还有很多事情要做。 高博（Bob Grace）非常强调他对中国市场的熟悉程度。＂我可以给你看我的护照,最近两年我每个月都要到中国来一趟,护照上盖满了中国海关的章!＂2010年8月,48岁的英国人高博（Bob Grace）来到上海,正式担任捷豹路虎中国总裁,12月份开始负责整个大中华地区的业务,包括澳大利亚、日本和韩国的国家销售公司以及独立进口商。     

必须倡导绿色建筑

能源和环境问题已经越来越受世人关注,每个领域都应该为节能和环保做出贡献。建筑领域是耗能和污染大户,绿色建筑势在必行。必须从建筑规划、建筑材料、建筑设计和施工技术等方面入手,加强对绿色建筑的推进。     

组织间关系:界面规则与治理机制

本文认为,界面规则是组织间关系的基础.本文讨论了界面规则的形成和演变的路径依赖特征,提出了一个分析组织间关系界面规则的理论框架,并对构成界面规则的要素进行了论述.本文还讨论了组织间关系治理机制的特点,强调组织间协调和组织间关系治理的重要性要大于内部科层协调和内部治理.     

New paradigms for the future: keynote perspectives from The R&D Management Conference 2008

The R&D Management Conference 2008 theme of ‘emerging and new approaches to R&D management’ sought to draw out how R&D‐based organizations today are changing the way they manage (in terms of novel approaches, techniques, models and tools) in face of the challenges and opportunities presented in the current environment. Six keynote presentations by executives, representing both the public and private sectors, elaborated on the following subjects reflecting their experiences on the theme: hyperconnectivity and changing R&D tenets, accelerating discoveries in human health via open access public‐private partnerships, role of government in bridging the innovation gap, building sustainability and innovation in a traditional resource sector, R&D management in the aerospace sector, and leveraging diversity to build a culture of innovation. Their presentations highlighted amongst other things – global trends that are affecting how R&D organizations are operating, economic imperatives driving change in business models, working through partnerships within an open innovation environment, and leveraging the diversity presented by an increasingly globalized R&D workforce for success. Within these presentations are also challenges to researchers to generate new thinking to address current and future problems presented by the R&D environment. The keynote perspectives are summarized in this paper.     

Eine Konzeption zum Regulierungsmanagement im Kontext der Anreizregulierung

Strategic decisions of network operators are directly and indirectly affected by the current regulatory environment. Representing an important political and legal influence factor, the regulatory environment must be taken into account in the strategic decision-making process. Dealing with this factor is essential for an unbundled network operator, who’s main source of income is its grid access fee. Therefore, a comprehensive evaluation of the regulatory environment is indispensable for the success of network operators. This task should be handled by a department for regulatory management. However, as regulatory management is not clearly defined in business research, the present article intends to close this gap and develop a design for implementing a department for regulatory management. Our findings contribute to a better understanding of managerial behaviour under regulatory constraints. As part of our design, environmental analysis serves as an example to point out the specific challenges in regulated markets.     

The impact of current and founding institutions on strength of competitive aspirations in transition economies

Northian institutional theory argues that firms adapt to their current institutional environments. Organizational imprinting theory argues that firms will be constrained by their founding institutional environments. We explore the combined influence of these two institutional environments on the strength of competitive aspirations using a unique dataset of firms in the shifted institutional environment of Central European transition economies. Our results indicate founding institutional environments temper adaptation to current institutional environments for certain competitive aspirations and this effect increases as the size of the shift between current and founding institutional environments increases. Copyright © 2011 John Wiley & Sons, Ltd.     

环境管制、生产力提升与产业发展——2008两岸产业效率与产业发展研讨会观点综述

本文对"2008两岸产业效率与产业发展研讨会"的主要学术观点进行了综述,这些观点涉及工业增长与环境协调、环境管制与生产力成长、发展环境与产业绩效以及产业发展与升级等前沿内容,反映了产业绩效领域的最新研究进展。     

Managerial and Engineering Economics,by Arnold Reisman

In his recent paper (“Interest Rate Independent Present Value Ranking,” The Engineering Economist, Vol. 34, No. 2, 1989), W. H. Jean discusses the concept of the “time dominance,” developed for the interest rate independent ranking of mutually exclusive projects. He derives a set of conditions identifying the time dominance for the continuous model of time and value representation, and applies these conditions to cash flow series defined in terms of the discrete model. In the current contribution, the genuine time dominance conditions for the discrete model of time and value representation are derived, and it is shown that they are not only much more simple to handle than those presented by Jean, but are also a part of an already existing approach published earlier in this journal. Since Jean's conditions are valid only for the positive values of the interest rate, complementary conditions applicable for the negative interest rates, for both the discrete and continuous models, are also derived.     

应对与转变:新形势下企业战略的选择——"‘十一五’规划与企业经营战略研讨会"学术观点综述

本文概括了“十一五”规划对企业经营战略提出的新任务．以及企业战略管理研究的前沿理论和发展趋势，分析了企业经营战略转变的方向和理论研究的可循路径．指出在新形势下企业经营战略要应对环境变化、完成战略转变。     

How Canon and Sony Drive Product Innovation Through Networking and Application-Focused R&D

To ensure the ongoing vitality of a company's product offerings, R&D professionals must play a daunting array of roles. The already rapid, yet still accelerating, pace of technological change may lead some companies to devote more resources to intensive internal research efforts. However, the shift toward global competition demands a more market-oriented focus from R&D; clear understanding of current and potential markets must drive R&D efforts. And efficient, cost-effective manufacturing of new products requires an R&D organization that understands and interacts effectively with the production department. How does a company create an environment in which its R&D organization comprises market-savvy, production-friendly experts in diverse technologies? With case studies of R&D efforts at Canon and Sony, Sigvald Harryson identifies and illustrates the key mechanisms that these companies use to foster product innovation. His examples show how Canon and Sony use a combination of external and internal networking mechanisms to identify and acquire key technologies and related skills, gain market knowledge, improve the results of internal R&D efforts, and ensure the successful transfer of these results to efficient production processes. He identifies four key mechanisms underlying successful product innovation at Canon and Sony: strategic training and job rotation for engineers, application-driven R&D, direct transfer of development teams from R&D to production, and extensive networking with external centers of excellence and key suppliers. At Canon, the initial training program for all researchers and engineers begins with three months of work on a production line. Sony's new researchers and development engineers spend one month in production. Both companies also give their new R&D professionals three months of training in sales and marketing. The emphasis on market-driven research at both companies means that researchers have identified some commercial application for almost every initial research proposal that gains approval. Neither company treats research as a long-term assignment; almost all engineers at both companies eventually move from the labs to production. And rather than viewing this job rotation strategy as a drain on the technological expertise in their labs, both companies rely on strong external networks with key suppliers and university-based researchers as important sources for acquiring new technologies and the competencies needed to support them.