Measuring new product success: an empirical investigation of Australian SMEs

New product development (NPD) has long been recognised as one of the corporate core functions. However, measuring new product success has remained elusive. This paper attempts to examine several conceptual issues underlining the measurement of new product success and the measurement practice adopted in Australian small and medium enterprises (SMEs). The sample included 276 SMEs from two most innovative industries: chemical and machinery industries. Results have indicated that four factors underline the commonly used success measurement: financial performance, objective market acceptance, subjective market acceptance, and product-level measures. These four factors are related to each other and can be used to well predict the overall measurement. The most frequently used specific measures in Australian SMEs are customer acceptance, customer satisfaction, product performance, and quality.     

Agility index in the supply chain

To achieve a competitive edge in the rapidly changing business environment, companies must align with suppliers and customers to streamline operations, as well as working together to achieve a level of agility beyond individual companies. Consequently, agile supply chains are the dominant competitive vehicles. Embracing agile supply chain requires asking some important questions, namely: what exactly is agility and how can it be measured? Moreover, how can agility be effectively achieved and enhanced? Due to the ambiguity of agility assessment, most measures are described subjectively using linguistic terms. Thus, this study develops a fuzzy agility index (FAI) based on agility providers using fuzzy logic. The FAI comprises attribute’ ratings and corresponding weights, and is aggregated by a fuzzy weighted average. To illustrate the efficacy of the method, this study also evaluates the supply chain agility of a Taiwanese company. This evaluation demonstrates that the method can provide analysts with more informative and reliable information for decision.     

中国制造业全球价值链位置的行业异质性及收敛性测度

中国制造业通过嵌入全球价值链参与国际分工,全球价值链位置演化呈现收敛趋势。利用TiVA数据库提供的数据,采用附加值贸易法对中国制造业全球价值链位置进行测度。结果发现,1995-2014年,中国制造业全球价值链位置演化经历了3个阶段(GVC1.0、GVC2.0、GVC3.0),在GVC1.0时期全球价值链位置不断下降,在GVC2.0时期全球价值链位置加速上升,在GVC3.0时期全球价值链位置稳步上升。构建全球价值链位置收敛计量检验模型,分别对中国制造业全球价值链位置的绝对σ收敛、绝对β收敛和条件β收敛进行检验。结果表明:中国制造业全球价值链位置演化存在绝对σ收敛、绝对β收敛和条件β收敛,但是中高技术和高技术制造业行业全球价值链位置演化存在绝对β发散和条件β收敛。研究结论可为促进我国制造业不同行业迈向全球价值链更高位置提供新证据。     

装备制造企业颠覆式创新实现机理及路径研究——基于扎根理论的分析

颠覆式创新是我国实施创新驱动发展战略、加快装备制造企业创新发展的重要手段。以我国3家具有代表性的装备制造企业为研究对象,运用扎根理论研究方法,对装备制造企业颠覆式创新实现机理及路径进行多案例探索性研究,通过开放式译码、主轴译码和选择性译码,构建装备制造企业实现颠覆式创新的机理路径模型,归纳出装备制造企业实现颠覆式创新的3个阶段,并据此为我国装备制造企业实现颠覆式创新提出管理策略和建议。     

考虑旧产品再制造的周期盘点库存决策

为了确定最优的再制造与制造策略,对有限计划期间的周期盘点库存系统进行研究。在该系统中,计划期间之初有相当多的旧产品,若对这些旧产品全部再制造,得到的再制造品将满足整个计划期间的顾客需求。但是,若旧产品的持有成本超过起动新产品制造的准备成本时,则起动新产品制造更加经济。此时,为满足顾客的需求,将有再制造与制造两种方式并存。针对现有研究假定再制造准备次数和制造准备次数已知的情况下得到的再制造与制造策略不一定是最优的局限,假定再制造准备次数与制造准备次数未知,构建了最小化有限计划期间总成本的库存决策模型。通过构建关于转换期的集合,推导出了不同转换期对应的最小总成本函数及其最优转换期的存在范围。最小总成本是关于转换期及相应最优的再制造准备次数和制造准备次数的函数,提出了一个确定计划期间最优策略的简单算法,并用算例对模型及算法进行验证,得到相应的最优策略及最优总成本。     

环境规制对中国制造业结构优化的影响

采用2005-2016年中国内地30个省市面板数据,综合运用系统GMM模型和固定效应模型,探讨正式、非正式环境规制对制造业结构优化的影响。从直接影响看,正式环境规制能促进制造业结构高级化但未促进合理化,而非正式环境规制对制造业结构合理化和高级化均产生促进作用。进一步以技术创新为中介变量的分析发现,两种环境规制均能通过技术创新的中介效应对制造业结构合理化和高级化产生正向影响,但对制造业结构高级化的影响存在区域差异性：正式环境规制对东部地区制造业结构高级化产生显著正向影响,对中部、东北地区无显著影响,对西部地区产生显著负向影响;非正式环境规制对中部、西部地区制造业结构高级化产生显著正向影响,对东部、东北地区无显著影响。最后,基于实证结果,从两种环境规制互补、环境规制与技术创新互动、区域差异化环境规制等角度,就如何实施环境规制、倒逼制造业结构优化提出若干建议。     

A comparative study of the adoption and implementation of target costing in the UK, Australia and New Zealand

Most of the studies on target costing (TC) only provide insight into the adoption and perceived benefits of TC, and do not address the levels of implementation of the technique. These studies also assume that TC is only relevant to manufacturing firms and therefore do not investigate the adoption of this technique in service firms, and consequently exclude service firms from their surveys and analysis. Furthermore, most studies do not examine factors influencing the adoption of TC systems. Contributing to these gaps in the literature, this paper reports the results of a survey among CIMA-qualified management accountants working in manufacturing and service firms in the UK, Australia and New Zealand on the adoption and implementation of TC. The study examines the importance of attributes of TC (namely relative advantage, compatibility, ease of use, result demonstrability, trialability) for decision makers to adopt and implement such cost and management accounting innovation. The survey indicates that TC is equally prevalent among manufacturing and service firms while in terms of the levels of implementation there is a significant difference between manufacturing and service firms. The study shows that there is a growing interest in the examination of all cost-reducing strategies at the planning stage and adoption of value engineering to incorporate customer requirements rather than focusing on the adoption of cost-cutting strategies at the production stage.     

南京市文化产业与工业制造业互动关系研究

文化产业是第三产业的重要内容,是工业制造业发展到一定阶段的产物,文化产业的发展目前已经引起各个地方政府的重点关注。本文通过对南京市文化产业与工业制造业的关系进行格兰杰因果关系检验、回归分析等研究,最后得出文化产业与工业制造业之间互相影响的结论,并在此基础上提出南京市文化产业发展的相关政策建议。     

基于行业技术水平分类分析FDI的技术溢出效应

本文在对涉及输入型FDI技术溢出效应的有关文献进行综述的基础上,把制造业27个行业根据OECD标准按技术含量分为高技术、中高技术、中低技术及低技术四组取样,采用面板数据模型分析了不同技术水平行业组的FDI技术溢出效应。结果表明：FDI的技术溢出效应确实存在,而且技术外溢效应容易发生在技术含量和技术密集度较高的行业中：内外资企业的技术差距对溢出存在负面影响,但这一负面影响会随内资企业技术吸收能力的提高而减弱。     

企业规模与R&D投入关系的实证研究——基于沪市A股制造业上市公司的数据分析

以70家制造业上市公司为研究样本,对公司规模与R&D投入的关系进行了实证检验。研究结果表明,我国制造业上市公司R&D费用强度和R&D人员强度与企业规模都显著负相关,而R&D投入绝对额与企业规模显著正相关;我国制造业上市公司R&D费用强度平均达到了国际上公认的维持生存的水平(2%),但分布不均,低投入状况与高投入状况并存;但从R&D人员投入来看比较理想,大多数公司的R&D人员强度达到了发达国家10%的水平。 ?