An engineering approach to LSE modelling of experience curves in the electricity supply industry

This review is a supplement to the paper by Sharp and Price (1990) and should be regarded as an alternative engineering approach to the modelling and forecasting of experience, or learning, curves. It highlights the problems associated with accurately defining a model to time series that show a combination of a continuous trend and a cyclical component, as detected by the authors in the Sharp and Price data. The authors give a number of alternative perspectives of the same time series, in this case average thermal efficiency data from the U.K. electricity supply industry, with the corresponding conclusions associated with each approach. Particular attention is drawn to the use of the “time constant learning curve” quoted by Sharp and Price which the authors show is a reasonable predictor of the average thermal efficiency. However, a tremendous improvement results from selecting the “ripple” model as a thermal efficiency predictor.     

The use of co-nomination to identify expert participants for Technology Foresight

The United Kingdom has been carrying out a major exercise in the field of Technology Foresight, involving fifteen panels engaged in wide consultation about the future of their areas. The objectives of the Programme are to help set priorities for publicly funded science and technology and to create new working partnerships between science and industry. The paper describes the process by which members of the panels, and those whom they subsequently consulted, were identified. A survey-based technique known as co-nomination was employed, whereby respondents were asked to identify suitable participants and at the same time to profile their own expertise. The process was repeated with those nominated. The patterns of expertise thus revealed are themselves of interest and are used to construct a map of the inter-relationship between the fields covered by the panels.     

Public Trading and Private Incentives

This article studies the link between public trading and theactivity of a firm's large shareholder who can affect firm value.Public trading results in the formation of a stock price thatis informative about the large shareholder's activity. Thisincreases the latter's incentives to engage in value-increasingactivities. Indeed, if he has to liquidate part of his stakebefore the effect of his activity is publicly observed, a moreinformative price rewards him for his activity. Implicationsare derived for the decision to go public, capital structure,and security design.     

Banking on global success: Internationalization strategy and its limitations (the case of Allied Irish Banks)

This article explores the choices and challenges facing Ireland's leading financial services corporation, Allied Irish Banks (AIB), in its strategy for international market growth. It begins with an examination of the company's internationalization strategies within the global banking context. It then considers the limitations of international market expansion and transnational management control for a company with low brand recognition outside of its home market and limited experience of international operations. Finally, it elaborates on the strategic challenges that face the organization and reflects on the lessons for other midsized international companies competing in consolidating, globalized industries.© 2006 Wiley Periodicals, Inc.     

Whither Foreign R&D in China: Some Concluding Thoughts on Chinese Innovation

The purpose of this article is to highlight the impact of a new range of field-work driven scholarly research regarding foreign R&D in China on the field of Chinese innovation studies. The field of China innovation studies is positioned for a major take-off with the opening up and broadening of the field to a new generation of scholars and experts, including the growing participation and contributions of Chinese nationals from the People's Republic of China (PRC). With the continued opening of China to the outside world has come also increased scholarly access which is allowing for research on issues that heretofore was constrained due to the limited availability of information as well as political and national security sensitivities. The field also is benefiting from the increased visibility being given to innovation matters by the Chinese government and the rise in the number of foreign R&D centres that have been established by foreign companies. New ‘internally-focused’ questions related to R&D spending, the cultural and historical setting for innovation, and the institutional structure are being addressed with some promising results. In addition, a whole new series of ‘externally-focused’ questions also are beginning to dominate the research agenda as more and more foreign firms seek to take advantage of China's improved climate for overseas business as well as the growing number of scientists and engineers at the higher end of the Chinese talent pool. The more we seem to find out, however, the more we realize we need to know to truly understand China's technological potential. That said, it is increasingly clear that foreign influence is having an important shaping effect on the nature of the PRC's R&D system, especially with respect to the strategic role played or potentially being played by returned scholars and experts whose more cosmopolitan perspectives serve as a real asset in building bridges between Chinese traditional attitudes and modes of behaviour towards new knowledge creation and the current institutional constraints on China's innovation trajectory since 1949.     

Investment Project Valuation: A New Equity Perspective

We suggest a new approach to calculating a project's net present value, termed the displaced equity method. Based on a straightforward formula, it analyzes a project partially financed with debt from the perspective that every year the amount of outstanding debt displaces an equivalent amount of equity that otherwise would be tied up in the project. Although they represent distinct shareholders' perspectives, the displaced equity method and the equity residual method yield identical net present values and internal rates of return. Every year, the project's value calculated with the displaced equity method is equal to the sum of the project's debt and equity values. In practice, when the schedule of expected outstanding debt amounts is known, using the displaced equity method is an easy way to estimate the project's net present value.     

Domestic competitor influence on internationalizing SMEs as an industry evolves

Taking an industry-level perspective of how SME internationalization is shaped by interaction with domestic competitors, and by researching the whole population of internationalizing firms in the same industry segment in the same country over time, the paper uses industry evolution and reference competitor theories to explain SME internationalization as a response to changing market and industry context. Three competitive patterns are predicted, and examined empirically, for SMEs internationalizing in the emergence, growth and consolidation stages of an industry’s evolution. Pioneering internationalizing SMEs act as reference competitors for firms subsequently entering the industry, thereby influencing the industry evolution domestically and globally.     

Information technology and efficiency in trucking

Abstract .  We develop an econometric model to estimate the impact of Electronic Vehicle Management Systems ( EVMS ) on the load factor ( LF ) of heavy trucks. This technology is supposed to improve capacity utilization. The model is estimated on the Quebec subsample of the 1999  National Roadside Survey . The  LF  is explained as a function of truck, trip, and carrier characteristics. We show that the use of  EVMS  results in an increase of 16 percentage points of  LF  on backhaul trips. However, we also find that there is a rebound effect on fronthaul movements, with a reduction of  LF  by about 7.6 percentage points.     

Perceptions of high‐involvement work practices and burnout: the mediating role of job demands

This study examined the impact of perceived high‐involvement work practices on job demands (role conflict, role overload and role ambiguity) and burnout (emotional exhaustion and depersonalisation). The study was conducted in a Canadian general hospital. Findings from structural equation modelling (N = 545) revealed that perceived HIWPs were significantly and negatively related to job demands and burnout. Role conflict and role overload have a significant positive association with emotional exhaustion and depersonalisation. Finally, role conflict and role overload partially mediate the relationship between perceived HIWPs and burnout. We discuss the theoretical and managerial implications of these findings for our understanding of how HIWPs influence the job demands and burnout of employees.