Technology strategy in uk firms

This paper is a conceptual and empirical study of the problems that companies and managers face in formulating a 'technology strategy'. The main issues in technology strategy decisions can be charactented as having acquisation management and exploitation elements and an internal-external dimension. The research on which the paper is based aims to link and develop these elements within a wider conceptual context. It reports that, empirical results of one questionnaire and two interview surveys on technology strategy, as practised by UK companies and managers. The findings from the studies and their implications are discussed for the technology strategy itself for the significance of the company industry and technology setting; and-fir the underlying problem of how managers think about the firms technologies. The conclusion is that the problems of formulating a technology strategy are more deeply rooted than has previously been suggested.     

Technology foresight: an interim review of the uk exercise

The UK completed its first technology Foresight (TF) exercise in 1995. As this paper argues, the specific technological conclusions, although certainly significant, were perhaps less interesting than the institutional and political procers invelved—before, during and after the TF exercise. Consequently, although it includes an ovenview of the technological conclusions, this paper also attempts an interim analysis of the overall process based on initial reactions from those involved, thereby attempting to give a general impression of the impression of the exercise. As this paper indicates, the TF exercise was trying to break new ground, and it has certainly opened up some new horizons. However, perhaps predictably, it has also become enmeshed in the on-going policy debate on strategic R&D funding issues.     

信息系统工程监理取费标准测算的方法

本文分析了建设监理取费新标准，通过数学模型分析获该取费标准中投资额与收费比例之间的函数关系。利用该函数关系，结合信息系统工程监理的典型取费基数，拟合出不同类型信息系统工程监理取费遵循的函数曲线。根据此曲线，计算出一些典型投资额点上的信息系统工程监理取费比例数。     

Influences on technology strategy in the uk oil- and gas-related industry network

In the course of the last 25 years the UK has seen the emergence of a new, technologically advanced network of organisations underpinning the technical needs of the oil and gas extraction industry.The euolution of this industy network has taken place within a public policy framework which has had too central objectives: to maximize UK industrial involvement in the industry and to maximize. North Sea oil and gas extraction. The extent to which this framework has encouraged the development of new, technology-based firms has not been systematical stuided. This study examines the extent of indigenous incoltlement in the network and the influence of the currrent pressures of economic and policy changes on the performance and strategic planning of these compnies.     

Influences on technology strategy in the uk oil- and gas-related industry network

In the course of the last 25 years the UK has seen the emergence of a new, technologically advanced network of organisations underpinning the technical needs of the oil and gas extraction industry.The euolution of this industy network has taken place within a public policy framework which has had too central objectives: to maximize UK industrial involvement in the industry and to maximize. North Sea oil and gas extraction. The extent to which this framework has encouraged the development of new, technology-based firms has not been systematical stuided. This study examines the extent of indigenous incoltlement in the network and the influence of the currrent pressures of economic and policy changes on the performance and strategic planning of these compnies.     

Multiple-objective methods in regulatory decision making: A conceptual framework applied to U.S. automobile safety standards

Public policy making is a complex matter. Policy makers are charged with balancing a broad spectrum of competing objectives, reflecting in varying degrees the interests and aspirations of a diverse range of constituencies and stakeholders. Policy decisions have differential impacts on differing constituencies and the contributions of these impacts to objectives are frequently uncertain, difficult to quantify, and hotly disputed. Formal methods of decision analysis have been advanced as aids for coping with complexity and have been applied to some public policy issues, most notably the management of water resources. While formal methods have the apparent benefit of rationalizing the policy process and improving the efficacy and equity of policy decisions, serious questions remain concerning the acceptability and ultimate usefulness of formal analyses in the public arena. In this article we examine these questions in the context of policy making relating to government regulation of automobile designs for safety. We consider what would be involved in attempting to use a relatively modern, multiple-objective approach in this context. The key questions are how and, more importantly, why multiple-objective methods might be used. The article begins with an illustrative case study, describes the current policymaking process, identifies the parties involved in and affected by this process, elicits key objectives, looks briefly at some scalar-objective approaches, and then outlines a multiple-objective approach. The framework developed arguably is useful in assisting policy making, at least at a qualitative level. Issues which impede a more quantitative resolution of this framework are discussed. This article is intended as a pilot study which may promote research toward the achievement of a useable multiple-objective procedure applicable in the public domain.     

Diffusion and management of electronic data interchange: barriers and qpportunities in the uk pharmaceutical and healthciare industries

This paper is based on evidence from a survey, conducted during 1992, investigating the adoption of electronic data interchange (EDI) amog neraly 20 furms in the pharmaceutical and healthcare sector within the UK. In particular, it focuses on the factors behind the adoption and diffusion of EDI, and the barriers to its uptake and spread. It also analyzes some of the strategic, organizational and managerial issues behind its implementatio and development. The survey highlights the relatively slow rate of adoption of EDI within this sector and key problems that inhibit its uptake. These include issues of costs, standards and the increasingly fragmented nature of purchasing and logistics that results from reorganization within the UK healthcare system.     

Diffusion and management of electronic data interchange: barriers and qpportunities in the uk pharmaceutical and healthciare industries

This paper is based on evidence from a survey, conducted during 1992, investigating the adoption of electronic data interchange (EDI) amog neraly 20 furms in the pharmaceutical and healthcare sector within the UK. In particular, it focuses on the factors behind the adoption and diffusion of EDI, and the barriers to its uptake and spread. It also analyzes some of the strategic, organizational and managerial issues behind its implementatio and development. The survey highlights the relatively slow rate of adoption of EDI within this sector and key problems that inhibit its uptake. These include issues of costs, standards and the increasingly fragmented nature of purchasing and logistics that results from reorganization within the UK healthcare system.     

International convergence in regulation: The case of measurable standards

Recent literature on competition in regulation concludes that the iterative adjustment that may start with mutual recognition is an open-ended process. This paper shows that, even without acceptance of reciprocal minimum standards, a process of iterative adjustment may be triggered by the coexistence of foreign goods with high standard levels and domestic goods with relatively low standard levels. Focusing on the case of international heterogeneity of levels of a specific standard, the paper offers an intuitive counter-argument to the fear that free trade necessarily implies a “race to the bottom“ of standard levels.     

Regionalism in standards: good or bad for trade?

Abstract.  Regional agreements on standards have been largely ignored by economists and blessed by multilateral trade rules. Using a constructed panel data that identifies the different types of agreements at the industry level, we find that such agreements increase the trade between participating countries but not necessarily with the rest of the world. Harmonization of standards may reduce the exports of excluded countries, especially in markets that have raised the stringency of standards. Mutual recognition agreements are more uniformly trade promoting unless they contain restrictive rules of origin, in which case intra-regional trade increases at the expense of imports from other countries.     

Optimal environmental taxes and standards: Implications of the materials balance

This paper investigates the implications of the materials balance for optimal environmental policy. We find that neglecting the materials-emissions relationship - as is common in models of optimal environmental regulation - implies biases, whose sign depends on the regulatory instrument chosen. When emissions are regulated through an emission tax, the seemingly optimal tax is too high. When regulation proceeds through the use of an emission standard, the seemingly optimal standard is too lax.     

软件产业集群:提高我国中小软件企业竞争力之途径

针对我国中小软件企业规模小、技术弱,缺乏市场竞争力的现状,提出大力发展软件产业集群是提高我国中小软件企业竞争力的有效途径.然后,给出了软件产业集群定义并对其进行了可行性分析.最后,介绍了软件产业集群现状,总结了软件产业集群的特点;最后提出发展软件产业集群的对策.     

Drivers of productivity in Vietnamese SMEs: the role of management standards and innovation

Using a rich panel dataset of small and medium scale manufacturing enterprises (SMEs) active in the manufacturing sector in Viet Nam, this paper investigates the drivers of firm productivity, focusing on the role played by international management standards certification. We test the hypothesis that, accounting for technological innovation (product and process) and other variables related to technological capabilities, international standards are conducive to higher productivity, through improved management practices and business organization. In line with the requirement of continuous improvement implied by most international standards, the main findings show that the possession of an internationally recognized standard certificate leads to significant productivity premium. We further find that the effect of certification on productivity is particularly strong for firms with technological innovation, located in southern provinces, and operating in more scale-intensive industries.     

Relative standards: A positive and normative analysis

The paper considers relative standards which limit the level of emissions per unit of output. The representative firm is characterized by a cost function describing the actual production process, a separate abatement technology, and the fact that (gross) emissions are proportional to output. At first, the implications of a relative standard and of its marginal change for a single firm are examined. It is shown that the standard cannot be replaced by a corresponding tax. Afterwards a positive analysis is performed for an industry consisting of identical firms under perfect competition. Comparative statics are used to analyze the impacts of changes in the relative standard in a short-run and long-run equilibrium. It turns out that the standard always possesses a price effect. Moreover the relevant factors which govern price, quantity, and profit changes are revealed. Then the paper characterizes the optimal standard for the same framework. A main result is that the first-best allocation can never be obtained by means of a relative standard, even if firms are identical. The influence of the demand and supply side on an optimal standard can be demonstrated since the underlying model is simple and transparent. The resulting market price is compared to social marginal costs. Finally the investigation is extended to monopoly and symmetric oligopoly.     

Licensing technology to shape standards: Examining the influence of the industry context

Technology standards refer to particular technological solutions, which emerge as the accepted approach to fulfill a particular function. In light of the growing importance of technology standards and network externalities, industrial firms may not only adopt emerging standards, but they can actively shape the standardization processes based on their forecasting activities. One important means to influence standard setting towards a firm's own technology is to foster the technology's adoption by actively licensing it to other organizations. Thus, industrial firms may license technology in order to enhance their future new product performance based on a standard related to their technology. To shed light on these dynamics of standardization processes, we draw on contingency theory and conceptually examine the role of licensing in the emergence of technology standards. We further use new data from two surveys of 79 industrial firms with a three-year lag to analyze how environmental contingency factors related to appropriability, i.e., patent protection and technological turbulence, moderate the relationship between licensing to shape technology standards and a firm's subsequent innovation performance. The data provide strong support for the importance of shaping standards by licensing technology, and the findings have important implications for research into standards, licensing, and appropriability.     

The efficiencies defence in merger cases: implications of alternative standards

We compare alternative interpretations of the efficiencies defence, provided under Canadian competition law, for mergers found likely to lessen competition substantially. We find the respective percentage reductions in long-run marginal cost required for a profitable merger to satisfy the total surplus, price, and two weighted surplus standards, given pre-merger market structure. We find that when efficiency spillovers are low and markets are concentrated, the cost reduction required to satisfy the price standard is over four times higher than is required for a profitable, total-surplus-increasing merger and the cost reductions required to satisfy the weighted surplus standards are nearly twice as high.
Les auteurs comparent diverses interprétations des stratégies de défense en terme d'efficacité pour les fusions dont on pense qu'elles vont réduire substantiellement le concurrence dans le cadre de la loi sur la concurrence au Canada. Ils identifient que les réductions en pourcentage dans le coût marginal de longue période qui sont requises pour qu'une fusion profitable satisfasse aux normes du surplus total, du prix, et des deux surplus pondérés, compte tenu de la structure de marché avant la fusion. Il semble que quand les effets de débordement d'efficacité sont faibles et que les marchés sont concentrés, les réductions de coûts requises pour satisfaire la norme de prix soient quatre fois plus élevées que ce qui est requis dans le cas d'une fusion profitable qui accroît le niveau de mieux- être, et presque deux fois deux fois plus élevées pour satisfaire la norme des surplus pondérés.     

Performance versus design standards in the regulation of pollution

This paper presents a model of pollution regulation in an oligopolistic market. Two forms of regulation are considered: performance standards which regulate pollution directly by an upper limit on emissions, and design standards which regulate pollution indirectly by a minimum usage requirement of an enissions control input. Equilibria under each regulatory regime are characterized. A welfare analysis reveals that performance standards are preferred to design standards if the objective is minimization of emissions plus pollution damage costs. However, the comparison is indeterminate if the regulator's objective is total surplus less pollution damage. An equivalence between emissions taxes and performance standards is established, so the above welfare comparisons also apply to emissions taxes versus design standards.     

工程项目联盟--对承包工程项目合作方式的探讨

最近几年,关于工程项目的合同方式和内容,业内做了大量的探讨,目的在于改善工程项目施工和竣工交验中的方法,尽量防止冲突的产生。但是传统合约的本质导致了工程各方之间的关系是对立的,这是传统的工程支付方式决定的。在传统的合同方式下,工程上的利益相关者,业主和承包商,在根本上就是对抗的。越来越多的人迫切希望改革这种冲突关系,而不仅仅在原有的对立状态下的项目体系中考虑分散风险。因此,改革业主和承包商根本的关系势在必行。基于这一点,以关系合同（RelationContract）为基础的项目联盟应运而生,成为新的项目合作方…     

Social engineering in the third world

Success in economic development is normally measured in terms of growth rates in gross national product, with little attention given to the accompanying increase in employment. However, growth can be more or less labor absorbing depending upon the technology introduced during industrialization. In this article the author states the case for intermediate technology along with examples of its application.