Determinants of IT Usage and New Product Performance*

Explosive growth of information technologies (IT) has prompted interest in examining the role of IT in new product development (NPD). Through desktop software and Web‐based tools, IT has been used to aid idea generation and product testing as well as for NPD activities such as process and portfolio management. Recent research suggests, however, that a gap exists between IT availability and usage. Given the importance of IT in creating business value through the development of new products and services, the present study seeks to identify factors that affect IT usage. Further, anecdotal evidence and conceptual studies intimate that the usage of IT tools for NPD can shorten time to market, can improve product quality, and can increase productivity. However, empirical substantiation of this impact is mostly nonexistent. The current study investigates the relationship between IT usage and two measures of new product performance: speed to market and market performance. Employing a mail‐survey methodology, the study uses data from a sample of practitioner members from the Product Development & Management Association to examine the effect of project risk, existence of a champion, autonomy, innovative climate, IT infrastructure, and IT embeddedness on the extent of IT usage. These data are also used to explore the impact of IT usage on speed to market and market performance. The results indicate that project risk, existence of a champion, and IT embeddedness positively affect the extent of IT usage for NPD. Additionally, IT usage positively and significantly influences the performance of the new product in the marketplace. Surprisingly, and contrary to popular belief, IT usage does not have any impact on speed to market. An important implication of this study is that IT usage influences performance but not in the way managers expect. Specifically, IT usage does not seem to affect speed to market but rather positively impacts the performance of the new product in the marketplace. This result suggests that IT usage in NPD provides far more value to firms than previously thought and provides evidence to support greater investments in IT for product development efforts. Other implications of the study are that unless IT is embedded into the NPD process and champions for IT tools exist, chances are that IT will not be used and its benefits will not be realized.     

The Impact of Union Corruption on Union Membership

This paper examines the relationship between union corruption actions and union membership. State‐level data from the Office of Labor‐Management Standards, and other sources, are utilized over two study periods (1974–2000 and 2001–2008) to test three hypotheses, including the union corruption hypothesis, as possible explanations for the decline in union membership in the United States over time. Although our initial findings suggest a negative relationship exists between union corruption and membership, after removing the possibility of simultaneous equations bias, we find that changes in corruption do not influence changes in union membership in our sample.     

Member–Union Relations and Union Satisfaction

This paper examines the importance of various facets of satisfaction with union representation in determining overall satisfaction with the union. Samples of union members from Iowa and Sweden are used in the analysis. The results clearly support the view that member–union relations is a major determinant of overall satisfaction with union representation.     

The Impact of Union Wage Concessions on Union Premiums

Previous research showing that union wage premiums actually rose from the late 1970s to the mid-1980s suggests that concession bargaining was more media hype than the result of a fundamental change in collective bargaining. Our study found that nonrandom attrition of workers from the union sector does lead to an upward bias in the measured growth of union premiums, but concession bargaining was not a sufficiently widespread occurrence to reduce the size of union premiums during the sample period.     

Union Workers,Union Work: A Profile of Paid Union Officers in the United Kingdom

Twelve years ago, Working for the Union presented an analysis of paid trade union officers working for UK unions. This paper returns to the themes of this earlier study using a fresh survey of union officers carried out in 2002. It provides limited support for two of the principal findings of the earlier research: that union work is performed differently by officers with different demographic and attitudinal characteristics and that union management systems can be effective in encouraging officers to respond to a new bargaining and organizing agenda.     

Union Presence, Union Service and Membership Participation

Much of the literature on the determinants of union activism has focused on biographical and attitudinal precursors or correlates of several measures of union participation. Although interactionist theory emphasizes the importance of social context, little attention has been paid to union presence. The argument of this paper is that union presence, defined by certain structural arrangements, and the quality of union service, influences measures of workplace and non-workplace union participation through the mediating influence of union orientation. The paper begins by reviewing the literature on union presence and participation, before presenting a model of the joint impact of union service and union presence on both on- and off-the job union participation. Data are drawn from a study of membership involvement within the Irish-based Services, Industrial, Professional and Technical Union (SIPTU). The main findings are that there are significant relationships between presence and service level variables and measures of union participation. In particular, service variables appear to affect workplace union participation largely through the mediating influence of union orientation. Presence variables, by contrast, have both direct and indirect influence on participation in union activities within and outside the workplace.     

Securing a Union Contract: Impact of the Union Organizer

Unions fail to secure a first contract after winning a representation election in approximately one out of four campaigns. This paper extends the limited research on first-contract determinants by developing and testing a model that incorporates the role of the union organizer. Although union organizers typically do not negotiate first contracts, the empirical results suggest that the organizer's personality and actions during a campaign are important determinants of first contracts.     

IT优化商业

IT已经成为优秀企业的DNA、融入了它们业务的各个层面,进而影响着整体商业环境。在全球金融危机与经济衰退之下,IT能为企业做些什么?恐怕没有人像湖南华菱线缆股份公司副总经理熊硕这样有深刻体会了。作为企业IT负责人,熊硕时时刻刻绷着一     

Trade Union Decline and Union Wage Effects in Australia

Union density in Australia fell precipitously in the 1990s. This study investigates how union wage effects may have changed as a result. The findings from 1993 data suggest that union/nonunion wage differentials were very small, especially among workers in high-density industries. By 2001 the overall union wage effect had increased significantly; however, the union/nonunion wage differential was no longer correlated with union density at the industry level.     

Information Technology, US Union Organizing and Union Effectiveness

This paper examines the effects of information technology (IT) on organizing and union effectiveness in US national unions. Original survey data and data from government and independent sources are combined to model outcomes including membership growth, success in representation elections, and union leaders' assessments of effectiveness as a product of environmental and organizational characteristics. The results suggest that the practical impact of IT use on organizing outcomes can be quite important. Evidence regarding the impact of IT on overall effectiveness (i.e. organizational or union effectiveness) is more mixed.     

The New Generation of Trade Union Leaders and Prospects for Union Revitalization

The year 2003 was widely perceived as the year of the ‘awkward squad’— a group of recently elected union leaders more prepared than their predecessors to challenge New Labour. It was also a year in which unions were perceived to have experienced the beginnings of a recovery. In this review I argue that both of these perceptions are misplaced. The new generation of union leaders are a more disparate bunch than the ‘awkward squad’ label implies. The unions they lead remain seriously weakened by a harsh and inhospitable environment. Union recovery is unlikely unless the environment changes or the new union leaders can succeed against the odds in changing the environment through political activity.     

浅谈信息化的现代煤矿企业

介绍了煤矿采掘业的现代化研究技术发展历程、我国煤矿现代化发展新科技的应用,分析了现代化矿井今后的研究方向.     

统计信息化漫谈

随着计算机的普及、网络技术和通讯水平的不断提高,人类已经超越了时空的限制走进了全球一体化的信息社会.Internet技术的腾飞和广泛应用,对我国社会、政治、经济、文化等,产生了广泛而深远的影响.办公自动化、网络化已经成为各行业改革的方向和发展的目标,信息化程度成为了衡量行业发展的重要标准之一.在这轰轰烈烈的改革大潮中,我们统计事业如何才能做到健康有序的发展呢?     

重庆的IT机会

曾经—直被称为“大后方”的重庆,如今正努力变成全球IT制造业的最前方。重庆市长黄奇帆在外有个别名——“重庆CEO”。在他的眼中,最重耍的就是IT产业。“2000年,重庆IT产业的产值仅20亿余元,2010年达1000亿元,10年间涨了50倍左右。预计到2015年,     

Linking Union Density and Union Effectiveness: The North American Experience

This study considers how union performance in terms of organizing, bargaining, and political activity are related to severely declining union density (the percentage of the workforce in unions) in the United States and the higher and stable union density in Canada. Canadian unions have remained active in recruiting new members and assign a high priority to organizing, while American unions have shown diminished organizing effort and ability. Canadian unions have demonstrated superior performance in collective bargaining as measured by resistance to concession bargaining and negotiated wage gains, among other factors. Finally, although Canadian unions experienced some political setbacks, they wielded more political influence than their American counterparts in promoting union-specific as well as broad social legislation. Density is examined as both a consequence and determinant of the divergence in union performance.     

Renewing Union Narrative Resources: How Union Capabilities Make a Difference

This article explores the role of framing in mobilizing and transforming narrative resources. It draws on in‐depth studies of two different workplace unions within the same multinational company in Canada. We conducted interviews with managers and trade unionists at different levels over a number of years of observation. Each of these workplace unions mobilizes new repertoires of action to enhance its capacity to act. Yet they differ considerably in their capacity to renew their narrative resources. Whereas one of the workplace unions still relies on an exclusive and restrictive narrative, the other union has evolved towards a more encompassing and inclusive narrative. This article argues that strategic capabilities are a key variable in understanding the processes through which narrative resources change and are mobilized.