A post-European century in science

The coming century will bring globalization, a shift to new biotechnologies and information technologies, and a shift of the centers of gravity of the world away from its Eurocentric moorings to Asia. The shift in technologies will result in the three realms of information in culture, genes and computers coming together as a composite whole. Ecologies of information—the genetic, the cultural and the artefactual—will now jostle with each other. With automation, the 17th century Scientific Revolution's agenda will be left partly to machines. Further, the demise of modernism and the emergence of postmodernism are a reflection of the exhaustion of the Enlightenment project. A variety of cultural, epistemological and even ontological positions co-exist in today's sciences. As replacement macro agendas are sought in ontology, epistemology, logic and culture, Asia provides a readily available civilizational source.     

Organizational Dynamics and Adoption of Innovations: A Study within the Context of Software Firms in Sri Lanka

This paper examines the effect of organizational dynamics on innovation focus using the residual dominant and emergent theoretical framework (RDE) and the empirical evidence of four case studies. The findings revealed that different types of innovation coexist, but one type becomes dominant over other types at a certain time as the innovation focus is changed in line with the strategic priorities of firms. We found that innovation focus takes the form of product, process, and organizational innovation pattern over time when the firms move from an entrepreneurial organization to a more formal business corporation. More importantly, the RDE framework provides an appropriate lens for practitioners, in identifying the enablers and barriers of innovation.     

Production management — the forgotten factor in the industrialization policy in developing countries

The failure or the slow progress of industrialization programmes in developing countries is often attributed to the reluctance of developed countries to ‘transfer technology’ to them. It is indeed true that in many cases developed countries are reluctant to part with the technological know-how gained over the years to a potential competitor; however, it would be unfair to blame lack of transfer of technology totally for the failure of industrialization aims of developing countries. In most cases the types of technology employed in developing countries are well established. However, the performance of these industries falls well below expectations, even though the technological know-how is fully available. The success of any industry once the technology has been mastered depends largely on efficient production management, which attempts to utilize resources in the most efficient way. Studies in developing countries have shown that production management is given little prominence in the industrial sector. As a result, numerous problems are encountered which lead to inefficiencies and low productivity. The significance of production management is neglected due to the shortage of qualified production management personnel. It is shown that of 32 universities in a sample of 18 developing countries, only one university offered a course in production management. In developed countries, one would typically find 15 such courses in a similar number of universities. The paper argues that without first having personnel qualified to perform the production management function, any industrialization programme has little chance of success. Developing countries and international agencies have been preoccupied with the problem of transfer of technology; it is time serious thought is given to the problems of production management following the technology transfer.     

Reconceptualizing the cultural dynamics of the future

Many futures approaches are based on ethnocentric factors which do not apply outside their western contexts. This article summarizes critiques of current care theories of social sciences which takes into account some of this ethnocentricity. Finally, the article presents an alternative view of the dynamics of the future based on culture as a variable