The information industry for the industrial marketer

The authors explore the nature and structure of the information industry supplying the industrial product market. They examine the means by which current scientific and technological information can be obtained, and the implication for industrial users.     

玩具分类大搜索

分类是指什么？玩具怎样分类？玩具分类如何搜索？玩具分类搜索带来哪些商机？本刊自2003年以来,对玩具行业的资源和分类进行多年的收集、整理、研发,现将此项成果在《玩具世界》杂志公开发表,以飨读者。     

玩具分类大搜索（三）

（十六）拼装玩具拼装玩具属于益智类玩具的一种,以塑胶、木质、纸质等为主要材料。拼装玩具是指玩者凭借自己的想象和创意,将玩具由散件拼装成一个玩具整体,百变积木系列拼装玩具即属此类：或是生产者将事先装好的玩具拆散,由使用者按图拼装,在拼装过程中享受到益智拼装玩具所带来的乐趣,如传统的纸质拼图便属此类。     

玩具分类大搜索

上期我们对玩具分类进行了总体概述,从本期起,本栏目将着重介绍玩具分类的具体细则,以厘清分类的概念,对玩具类别进行逐渐清晰的勾画。     

The search for asterisks: Compromised statistical tests and flawed theories

This paper discusses repeated tests and the resultant reporting of statistical significance when it is actually not present. These errors interact with professional norms such as biases against both replication studies and ‘non‐results’ to undermine the efficacy of our base of empirically tested theory. This raises serious issues for the future of strategic management research. Suggestions are made for dealing with these issues substantively and in terms of professional norms. Copyright © 2011 John Wiley & Sons, Ltd.     

The demand for information and the diffusion of a new product

The paper examines the implications of the ability of a consumer to learn about the characteristics of a new product on the diffusion of the product over time. The demand for information by the consumer is shown to generate a sigmoid diffusion curve for total sales of the product. Further it is shown that over time the elasticity of demand along the diffusion curve increases.     

世界经典动漫明星嘉年华12月空降上海

不出国门即可看遍全球的动漫明星,并参与到由这些动漫明星所串起的互动性游戏中,这样的机会怎能错过?"天空之橙——世界经典动漫明星巡礼"活动将于2012年12月22日至2013年1月2日期间空降上海世博展览馆。届时集合了米奇、小熊维尼、迪士尼公主、变形金刚、Hello Kitty和孙悟空等众多在中国广受欢迎的经典动漫人物将悉数出现在该次活动中。     

会计信息揭示的博弈分析

会计信息使用者和提供者之间由于利益不同而产生的对抗与冲突具有博弈性质。本文以税收部门和经营者的博弈关系为例,分析了博弈双方在经济活动中的对策选择,并提出规范博弈关系的一些建议。     

The home information utility

The First Conference on Viewdata, Videotex and Teletext, organized by Online Conferences Ltd, London, UK, 26–28March 1980     

Policy research for information activities: The OECD programme on information,computers and communications policy

The Working Party on Information, Computers and Communications Policy of the OECD has been created to carry out extensive research in preparation for the integrated policies that must be implemented to give direction to the development and merging of information technologies. The author discusses the activities and objectives of the research programme, focusing on that part of it which involves the macroeconomic analysis of information activities.     

The role of institutional arbitrage in the search for product innovation: Firm level evidence from Norway

Evolutionary theorizing conceptualizes the discovery of new products as a successful outcome from searching for innovation in which firms combine new and old knowledge and resources. Prior research has shown that the propensity for discovering new products is greatest when firms cross a technological and/or organizational boundary in the search for new knowledge. In this paper, we add a new dimension to this literature: we examine whether, and to what extent, crossing a national boundary, as when firms use knowledge from network partners in foreign countries, influences the likelihood that firms will introduce new products into the market. Drawing on theorizing on institutional arbitrage in the literature on national innovation systems (NIS) and varieties of capitalism (VOC), we propose that companies that cross a national boundary in searching for innovation are significantly more likely to introduce new products. Detailed survey data on firms; data on their network partners, including their location; and regression analysis show that the use of knowledge from actors in foreign NIS has a positive influence on product innovation.     

Toward new guardrails for the information society

Increasing interdependencies and deepening uncertainty change how the information society can be governed sustainably. In response, policy approaches worldwide are being reconsidered and new approaches developed that are more appropriate to these conditions. This article explores the conditions under which policies that worked in the past remain appropriate and when they will likely fail. It explores the role of dynamic analytical frames and a reconsideration of the normative principles of information society policies in overcoming these weaknesses. New instruments and policy arrangements that are considered include the establishment of boundary conditions (“guardrails”) for players, reliance on adaptive forms of policy, and reliance on ethics across all layers of governance. Driven by the global heterogeneity of values and the diversity of historical, economic, political, and cultural conditions, national and global governance arrangements will likely become more multi-centric. To avoid regulatory drift and fragmentation, policy must strive to create dynamic learning systems that help to continuously improve information society governance.     

Managing the search for new product concepts: a strategic approach

Abstract
The authors point out that there is little in the academic literature about the way ideas for new products emerge and how the emergence is managed. They have identified the main top management problem as the strategic one of achieving the right balance between resources put into new product search and those put into current business operations. To obtain more information on good and bad practice in this area they have investigated how a specially selected sample of small to medium-sized Canadian technological companies actually carry out new product search.
The research method was to ascertain how far corporate goals, organization structures and corporate values affected the effectiveness of new product search. Unstructured interviews were conducted with senior staff in the companies, during which information was sought about company goals, innovation strategy, internal relationships and how these impinged on the genesis of 35 projects.
The authors found an important corporate goal spurring innovation was growth (or survival), to be achieved by using new products to dominate their markets. R&D was oriented to achieving a technical edge, though not necessarily a radical breakthrough in market driven ways. Few had effective formal strategic plans for new product search. On the whole, top managements emphasized the importance of individual initiative and commitment to get results and the necessity of open communication throughout the organization.
Overall, this research reveals once more that any organization that wishes to pursue a strategy of product innovation has to build a climate which explicitly favours that strategy. Corporate strategy, itself, has a major influence on that climate. New product search requires resources and a place in the strategic plan but the extent to which it can be formalized is limited. It must be possible for new ideas, wherever generated, to emerge and gather momentum informally.     

Conflicts and decisions in the search for inherently safer process options

Identification of inherently safer process options is a multi-dimensional problem. Nearly all chemical processes involve a number of processing steps. Associated with each processing step there is usually a number of hazards or hazard types, for example, high pressure, high temperature, acute toxicity, chronic toxicity, fire, explosion. A process which is inherently safer with respect to one of these hazards may be more hazardous with respect to another hazard. Several examples will be discussed, including selection of refrigerants, batch vs. continuous reaction, and solvent selection for a batch exothermic reaction. These examples illustrate the importance of a thorough understanding of all of the potential hazards in the process. Finally, some tools for evaluating process options and selecting among a group of processes with conflicting inherent safety characteristics are discussed.     

The power of local information

The author argues that telecommunications efforts too often tend to stress distant connections. The local informative contacts are important, and should be given a chance in future systems. The argument presented to support this view includes the specific example of the TERESE project (Telecommunications and Rural Development in Sweden). This publically funded project uses narrowband communication, including computer conferencing, to stress economic and social identity in a region in the far north of Sweden. Details of continuing regional efforts are given.