The adoption and diffusion of high-performance management: lessons from Japanese multinationals in the West

This paper draws on surveys and case studies of management practicesin Japanese transplants in the US, the UK and France to studypossible impediments to introducing high-performance work practices.It shows significant national differences in the adoption ofspecific practices and in their clustering. While the exerciseof power by labour and management and public policy result innationally specific hybrid arrangements, the results demonstratea common pattern in types of traditional practices that surviveand of Japanese practices transferred. The most commonly adoptedpractices (such as teamwork and quality circles) relate directlyto management interests in productive efficiency, while theretained traditional practices most often relate to worker compensationand internal labour market structures. National industrial relationssystems appear to be important in the balancing of efficiencygains for managers and economic benefits for workers.     

Barriers to Matching New Technologies and Market Opportunities in Established Firms

In industries that produce high‐technology products or are reliant on technology for administrative or manufacturing processes, it is essential appropriately to link technologies to markets in order to increase shareholder value and to build future cash flows. Research and development (R&D) allocations in such industries are greatly dependent on forecasts of the R&D project's estimated potential contribution to future cash flows, which is related to the project's ability to satisfy current or future customer needs. The resource allocation decisions are difficult, however, since both markets and technology are likely to be highly uncertain. Although the innovation literature ably has addressed specific relationships between certain factors and new product development outcomes, less attention has been given to obstacles faced in linking technology to markets. Grounded in a literature‐based discussion of technology and market opportunity, the authors develop a conceptual framework for identifying and understanding the barriers facing managers in the process of matching technologies to market opportunities. Technology and market barriers include technology‐market linkage, technology availability, technology and market capabilities of competitors, and business model feasibility. Strategy and structure barriers include competition for limited resources, technology capabilities, technology portfolio goals, current market strategies, and competition for control of market charters. Social and cultural barriers include interpretive and communication barriers between functional units and language and cultural barriers within the technology workforce. The article concludes with implications for researchers and managers. The conceptual framework presented here can encourage the development of a stream of research in the area of technology strategy and planning processes, allowing researchers to improve our understanding of the process of technology innovation. Managers can use the framework as a guide for addressing a wide range of issues related to the process of matching technologies to market opportunities. For example, rather than relying strictly on cash flow projections for estimating the value of a new technology, managers also should consider how the technology could create new market opportunities or could reshape existing ones.     

A Note on Job Mobility Among Workers with Disabilities

This article uses data from the 1990 and 1993 panels of the Survey of Income and Program Participation to analyze relationships between disability status and job mobility. We identify individuals who experienced voluntary or involuntary job separations over a 20-month period and examine the effect of disability status on rates of job change and wage growth following a job change. The results show that disabled workers are more likely to experience involuntary job changes than are nondisabled workers, but there is little difference in the wage effects of job changes by disability status.     

On the comparative statics of the dominant-firm model

This paper examines the effect of a change in demand upon a dominant firm's share of the market. The direction of change in market share is not readily determined in the general form of the model. It depends upon the values of a number of parameters. In the linear and log-linear forms of the model, however, the number of crucial parameters reduces to two. The market share of the dominant firm varies directly (inversely) with demand when the y-intercept of its marginal cost curve is greater (less) than the y-intercept of the supply curve of the fringe in the linear model and, in the log-linear model, when the elasticity of marginal cost with respect to output is less (greater) for the dominant firm than it is for the fringe.     

Frameworks of strategic marketing information needs

This article presents a normative approach for developing an industrial marketing information system. The purpose is to provide encouragement that an understandable logic does exist behind user-designed systems.     

FARMING SYSTEMS RESEARCH: AN EVOLUTIONARY APPROACH TO IMPLEMENTATION

Evidence suggests that many FSR programmes have faced ‘institutional problems’. We argue that these have arisen largely as a result of the way in which FSR programmes have been planned. Too much emphasis has been attached to developing a methodology for FSR, and too little given to understanding the research environment for which the FSR programme is supposedly designed. An alternative approach to the planning of FSR programmes is proposed: one which is based upon a dialogue between the planners and researchers and which takes explicit account of the needs of the client research institution.