Bringing computer power to the consumer market

Firms in m a y industrial sectors are seeking to capitalize on the promise of new information technology to generate new consumer products which can gain substantial markets. Where these are improved versions of familiar products, the marketing task is relatively easy, but many of the new product opportunities involve radically new types of consumer good and/or service. Drawing on studies of efforts to establish such radical innovations, this paper examines the problems that are confornted in attempting to define what sort of product is actually being created and how it may fit into consume life-styles. Though there is considerable discussion of these topics in industrial circles, it appears that until late stages of product development, little serious analysis of social issues is undertaken— if at all. Furthemore, such discussio of the nature and use of products are more intended to mobilize the group of actors who are needed to support the innovation than to feed substantial information about possible user reqquirements into the design process. The design process is much more liable to invorporate ideas derived from analysis of technological trends and the use of products in professional applications, than information derived from social scienc or market research.     

How Far Should Mr Keating Go?

Australia's current account deficit is large by historical standards and so is the boom in private investment spending. The net effect is a level of thrift that is not unusually low. A major uncertainty facing policymakers is how far unemployment can be reduced without causing an inflationary spiral. If unemployment can be reduced without igniting inflation, then there is a case for loosening monetary policy.     

The role of idealization in long-range planning: An essay on the logical and social-emotional aspects of planning

This paper describes the ongoing development and evolution of a highly particular and important planning process known as Idealized Planning (IP). IP was originally developed to free planners from self-imposed, psychological constraints in the planning process. Instead of regarding any situation as fixed and hemmed in, no matter how rigid the constraints may appear to be, IP asks the planner to consider relaxing all constraints on an issue or problem by deliberately constructing an ideal image of the situation. The paper shows how IP is vastly more complicated than previously thought and yet how these complexities may be taken advantage of positively.