bluuebunny/crossref_metadata_2025 huggingface dataset:
YOUNG WORKERS IN HIGH TECHNOLOGY FIRMS: OPPORTUNITIES AND EXPERIENCES
Authors: Whyte Sue , Probert Belinda
Published: October 2008

Australian industries and Australian workers are regularly exhorted to embrace new technologies, while successful high technology firms are held up for emulation. The purpose of this study was to develop an analysis of young workers' participation in technologically advanced industries. The research addressed the question of what, if anything, is special about employment in technologically advanced industries — and whether employment patterns, training provisions, skills and opportunities differed from other sectors of the labour market.
UNINVITED GUESTS: A THERMODYNAMIC APPROACH TO RESOURCE ALLOCATION
Authors: Vogel Joseph H.
Published: October 2008

A theory of resource allocation is emerging from the science of nonequilibrium thermodynamics (NET). The deterministic and reductionist version of NET (DARNET), like neoclassical economics, is functionally simple; however, unlike neoclassical economics, it invites structural complexities. Some of these complexities are behaviourial (e.g., nonrational behaviour and ethics) and are implied by the human evolutionary paradigm subsumed within DARNET; other complexities are physical (e.g., environmental degradation) and are implied directly from core propositions of DARNET. The case for a paradigm shift to DARNET is presented.
WHY AUSTRALIA FAILS TO EXPLOIT PUBLICLY FUNDED R&D
Authors: Martin Paul V.
Published: October 2008

One of the challenges facing our scientific, research and commercial communities is how to optimise the economic benefit from the substantial amount of public funds which are invested in R&D. The problem is frequently alluded to, particularly within the guise of a debate about how to achieve better integration between the activities of commerce and academia. Typical policy responses have been to develop bridging mechanisms and structures to link the activities of academia and business. This paper looks at the effectiveness of such initiatives, and discusses why cultural change within the scientific community is necessary before structural and administrative approaches will achieve the improved commercial results from publicly funded research that taxpayers rightfully seek. This paper looks at the underlying issues which need to be considered in the design of more effective strategies and provides some guidelines for the creation of more effective approaches.
SCIENCE R&D AND IMPLEMENTATION: PROBLEMS OF COMMERCIALISING SCIENTIFIC ACHIEVEMENT IN AUSTRALIA
Authors: Renner John
Published: October 2008

Simply defined, implementation is the process of putting into practice something new to those attempting change. More accurately, however, from both a theoretical and practical perspective it is better described as a cluster of co-dependent processes involving knowledge acquisition, management and support, trialling, feedback and mutual adaption. This paper considers the potential influence of scientists and technologists on implementation. It is argued that there is scope, even a responsibility, for scientists to participate more fully in the productive cycle beyond R&D.
SKILL BASED AUTOMATION: CURRENT EUROPEAN APPROACHES AND THEIR INTERNATIONAL RELEVANCE
Authors: Badham Richard J.
Published: October 2008

Within management, innovation and industrial relations literature worldwide there has been widespread debate over new emerging models of best practice production and their implications for global manufacturing. This has been particularly prominent in discussions of post-Fordist and lean production production regimes. This paper extends this discussion beyond industrial relations and management debates and into the sphere of new approaches to production technology design and implementation. The paper provides an outline of the positive European challenge to lean production models provided by skill based design and automation principles and initiatives. The purpose of this paper is to assist the introduction of this orientation to a broader audience by summarising its key components and discussing its international relevance.
RIGHT IDEA, WRONG TIME: THE WISENET SCIENCE SHOP 1988-1990
Authors: Bammer Gabriele , Emery Merrelyn , Gowing Linda , Rainforth Jennifer
Published: October 2008

A science shop is an agency for the promotion of socially relevant research. It links members of the general community with researchers in the natural, social and other sciences. Australia's first science shop, the Wisenet Science Shop, opened in Canberra in February 1988. This report is a summary of its operation and achievements. Comparisons are made with science shops in Europe, particularly the well-documented Amsterdam Science Shop. The Wisenet Science Shop operated for more than a year on less than $20,000. Despite minimal publicity and promotion, it demonstrated that there is a demand in the community for this type of service and enthusiasm among researchers for the concept.
INFORMATION, COMMUNICATION AND TELECOMMUNICATIONS: A PILOT STUDY OF THE BEHAVIOUR OF CITIZENS
Authors: Williamson Kirsty , Balnaves Mark , Caputi Peter
Published: October 2008

Information, communication and telecommunications are all important to the lives of citizens. This paper reviews the literature on the information-seeking, communication and telecommunications behaviour of citizens and then reports on a pilot study to test empirical measures being developed by the Telecommunications Policy Research Group at RMIT As a result of the pilot study, an information-communication continuum is proposed to overcome the problems of definition of information and communication needs. There is also a suggestion that a distinction between purposeful information seeking and incidental information acquisition is required. The role of telecommunications in meeting information and communication needs is explored. Policy implications are included.
CIS: A NEW FRONTIER FOR MIS
Authors: de Ruyter Ko , Widdows Richard
Published: October 2008

The era of customer service is seeing the development of a new branch of management information systems — consumer information systems (CIS). The CIS is fast becoming the source of intelligence on all consumer issues in customer-oriented firms. The authors outline the main characteristics of CIS, and relate them to the development of the consumer affairs role in business. Technological aspects of the CIS are also discussed.
THE PUBLIC PERCEPTION OF RISK
Authors: Love Rosaleen
Published: October 2008

There is growing debate about the release of genetically modifed organisms to the Australian environment, and current concern about the lack of a national approach to biotechnology regulation. The House of Representatives Standing Committee on Industry, Science and Technology set up an inquiry into genetically modified organisms in October 1990, and called for public submissions. The submissions are a valuable resource for research into the public perception of risk with respect to a new technology which has developed very rapidly, and in advance of an adequate regulatory framework.
NEW WINE INTO OLD BOTTLES: TECHNOLOGICAL CHANGE AND INTELLECTUAL PROPERTY RIGHTS
Authors: Ricketson Sam
Published: October 2008

Technological progress involves conflicting consequences for the owners of intellectual property rights. On the one hand, the scope of these rights is enhanced and new subject matter is protected. On the other hand, the effective exercise of rights is often hampered and sometimes completely undermined. It is therefore timely to take stock of the effect of technological change on the traditional formulation of intellectual property rights. In particular, the following issues need to be considered: (i) the goals of intellectual property protection, (ii) the present scope and duration of protection, (iii) the present challenges, (iv) the legal constraints on change at the national and international levels, and (v) strategies for the future, including the reformulation of existing regimes and the adoption of sui generis schemes.
SCIENTIFIC FRAUD AND THE POWER STRUCTURE OF SCIENCE
Authors: Martin Brian
Published: October 2008

In the routine practice of scientific research, there are many types of misrepresentation and bias which could be considered dubious. However, only a few narrowly defined behaviours are singled out and castigated as scientific fraud. A narrow definition of scientific fraud is convenient to the groups in society – scientific elites, and powerful government and corporate interests – that have the dominant influence on priorities in science. Several prominent Australian cases illustrate how the denunciation of fraud helps to paint the rest of scientific behaviour as blameless.
IMPLEMENTATION ISSUES IN THE COMMERCIALISATION OF TECHNOLOGY: AN EVALUATION OF THE MIC PROGRAM
Authors: Ryan Neal
Published: October 2008

The MIC Program was the first systematic attempt of the Commonwealth Government to intervene in the supply of venture capital to emerging technology-based industry. The program has now been terminated, and this paper evaluates its political, commercial and industrial development successes and failures. This evaluation has implications for the implementation of government programs assisting in the development of new technology industries.
THE TECHNOLOGY OF OPEN-RANGE CATTLE FARMING IN EARLY EUROPEAN AUSTRALIA
Authors: Perkins John , Thompson Jack
Published: October 2008

The technology of open-range cattle-farming in early European Australia was notable for a simplicity that bordered on the primitive. It was far less sophisticated than contemporary farming in the British Isles. Some of the techniques used were identical with and may have been borrowed from New Spain. Others, in particular the use of the stockwhip and the development of an effective cattle dog were Australian innovations.
HIGH TECHNOLOGY AND FLEXIBLE AUTOMATION
Authors: Sanchez Angel
                      Martinez
Published: October 2008

Data from Australian manufacturing industries show that high technology industries are more intensively automated that other manufacturing industries and that the technological level and product complexity of an industry are the best explanatory variables for automation intensity. The empirical evidence shows the need to modify some of the assumptions of the Utterback and Abernathy model of the innovation life cycle.
CORPORATE INNOVATION: SOME AUSTRALIAN EXPERIENCES
Authors: Soutar Geoffrey N. , McNeil Margaret M.
Published: October 2008

Corporate innovation has not been well studied in Australia. The present study examined the extent and type of innovation in companies listed on the Western Australian Stock Exchange and it identified the high and low innovators by calculating an Innovation Score for each of the 184 companies in the sample. Factors which influence the level of corporate innovation were also determined. Companies with high levels of innovation were found to involve company employees in the innovative process. As in America, venture teams, product champions and creative geniuses impacted on innovative capacity. The input of customers is also a valuable source of ideas for innovation. Management of high innovating companies were committed to innovation, tolerant of risk taking and encouraged autonomous behaviour in their employees. However, successful corporate innovators did not give up formal control. Rules and procedures were also important.
SOLAR WATER HEATING IN QUEENSLAND: THE ROLES OF INNOVATION ATTRIBUTES, ATTITUDES AND INFORMATION IN THE ADOPTION PROCESS
Authors: Foster John
Published: October 2008

The public acceptance of solar domestic water heaters in Australia is explored with special reference to Queensland. Classical diffusion-of-innovations theory is used as the basis for a telephone survey of over 400 new Queensland householders. Survey results indicate that solar water heaters were readily available for purchase and imply that limited effort needs to be expended on further establishing consumer awareness in the market examined. Householders typically established technical feasibility before serious consideration of the solar option and financial viability before adoption. Friends, neighbours and social networks were very important in communicating relevant information. Survey responses suggest that government agencies and electricity authorities played a limited role in promoting the use of solar water heaters for new housing in Queensland. Some policy implications and promotional measures are discussed.
BIOTECHNOLOGY IN AUSTRALIAN AGRICULTURE: THE VIEWS OF FARMER REPRESENTATIVES
Authors: Lawrence Geoffrey , McKenzie Helen , Vanclay Frank
Published: October 2008

Biotechnology has the potential to impact significantly upon agriculture. However, although biotechnology is being promoted by the Australian Government and the National Farmers’ Federation, there are growing concerns about the environmental and social impacts of biotechnological applications.

A survey of representatives of rural producer organisations was undertaken to assess the policy positions of those groups who will be most affected by the new developments. It was found that few groups had actually developed a policy and that many representatives were personally uncertain and unclear about the position of the members. A major difference was observed between organic farming organisations — which form a small proportion of the total number of groups surveyed (and which are opposed to further biotechnological development) — and conventional farming organisations which express widespread and largely uncritical support of agrobiotechnological research and development in Australia.
TELEMATICS AND REGIONAL DEVELOPMENT: A RESEARCH LITERATURE REVIEW
Authors: Qvortrup Lars
Published: October 2008

This research literature review reflects the historical development of research in telematics and regional development, focusing particularly on the inherent research paradigms. In an early phase (the 1960s and 1970s), research was dominated by correlation analyses based on a communication model paradigm with communication as a cause-and-effect process. However, during the 1980s a large number of micro causational analyses were performed. This then led to a new paradigm, according to which communication is a process of interference among complex social systems. This literature review concludes that although the complexity of the relation between telecommunication and regional development must indeed be recognised, currently, there is a need to assist policy making by trying to classify the “myriad of factors” identified during the “complex systems paradigm” tradition into a less complicated typology, and thus to reduce the numerous policy recommendations into a manageable number of integrated strategies.
TV VIEWERS' CHOICE: A TALE OF THREE CITIES
Authors: Acheson Keith , Maule Christopher
Published: October 2008

A comparison of options currently available to television viewers in three cities in Australia, Canada and the U.K. identifies more extensive choice in the last two countries. Geographic location, the availability of overflow signals, attitudes to public and private broadcasting and the rate of adoption of new delivery systems such as cable and satellite are used to explain the regulatory decisions that have lead to the existing differences. Technology is expanding the range of choice and will likely leave viewers with similar options in all three markets in the near future. The article examines the use made of auctions to allocate pay television and other licences and compares it to alternative allocative mechanisms. Our discussion provides a snapshot of a rapidly changing landscape.
A SYMBIOTIC MODEL OF INNOVATION MANAGEMENT FOR COLLABORATIVE RESEARCH
Authors: Liyanage Shantha , Mitchell Helen
Published: October 2008

The proliferation of research collaborations amongst industry, university and public sector research organisations encourages and increases national innovative capacity. Innovation activities in research collaborations are governed by four major determinants that are critical for the transformation of new ideas generated within research organisations into commercial products, processes or user services. These determinants include the status of knowledge, organisational management factors, linkage mechanisms and market and user opportunities. Interaction between these determinants is important for an analysis of innovation clusters formed across different national research programs. This paper discusses the relationships between major determinants of innovation using a ‘symbiotic’ model which is similar to Michael Porter's ‘diamond’ model for competitive advantages of national industries. The model is applied to emerging ‘innovation clusters’ supported by the Cooperative Research Centres Program in Australia and is field tested at centre level for its explanatory viability. The discussion provides insights into improved management methods for innovation in collaborative research arrangements.
THE HUMAN SIDE OF TECHNOLOGY TRANSFER A VIEWPOINT
Authors: Gregory Geoff
Published: October 2008

It is argued that, despite evidence that technology transfer may not happen or may happen in unforeseen ways, exponents behave as if innovation will automancally occur and proceed without much further involvement by them with potential adopters. However, innovation implies change, which is not usually easy. Diffusion studies show that innovative products or ideas have to compete with what already exists and that there is a diversity of attitudes towards them. Consideration of failures often shows that the attitudes of people who are expected to change have been inadequately considered. The A VICTORY mnemonic provides a much better framework for understanding decisions people make. Apart from their perceptions often being different from those of the experts, people often work in an organisation or system which prevents knowledge being utilised or change being implemented. To improve the success rate of technology transfer, a well planned psychological operation is needed, based on studies of what persuades people of their need to change, and involving them at all stages of development of the new product or idea.
EVOLUTION, TECHNOLOGY, POLICY AND TECHNOLOGY MANAGEMENT
Authors: Metcalfe J. S.
Published: October 2008

This paper outlines recent developments in our understanding of the process of innovation and the implications for technology management. It addresses the puzzle of the interface between technology management (private, for profit, firms) and technology policy (government), and the obvious implication that effective policy must be conditioned by an understanding of the practice of management. Equally important is the view that technology management is to be understood in terms of the systems of institutions which generate and support technology, systems which extend beyond the boundaries of individual firms. Underpinning these themes is a particular subplot, namely the link between technology management and competitiveness.
NEW WAYS TO MAKE TECHNOLOGY PARKS MORE RELEVANT
Authors: Joseph R. A.
Published: October 2008

High technology policy has become a central feature of many national and regional strategies for encouraging industrial development. One of the more high profile instruments for implementing high technology policy supported by governments and regional authorities has been the technology park - a refinement of the familiar industrial park concept. The global recession, coupled with the failure of high technology policies in many countries, has now meant that technology parks are coming under closer scrutiny. The failure of Australia's high technology recovery has also meant that its technology parks are being subjected to increasing demands for accountability. There is a need to consider how to make technology parks more relevant in an environment which is beginning to see the limitations of past high technology policy. This paper reviews recent literature on technology parks with a special emphasis on Australian experience. It is argued that the suggestions often put forward for making technology parks more relevant need not be associated with ‘objective’ measurements of commercial success. The problems are more fundamental and the solutions should be inherently linked to the nature of policy-making itself. The paper argues for a strategy for relevance which depends on: recognising high technology for what it is; replacing the linear model of innovation as a rationale for policy; avoiding the dichotomy of sunset and sunrise industries, and establishing new criteria for assessing technology parks.
POLICIES FOR TECHNOLOGY DEVELOPMENT IN CANADA: 1987–1993
Authors: Wilson Andrew H.
Published: October 2008

This is the third (and last) in a series of articles to appear in Prometheus on federal policies for technology development in Canada daring the two electoral mandates of Progressive Conservative prime minister Brian Mulroney. The first and second articles covered the period that began with the appearance in July 1984 of the policy-related report by Dr Douglas Wright and his colleagues and ended in the middle of 1987 as the Mulroney administration was well into its first mandate and was putting in place changes to federal technology policies and programs, some of which were Wright-related. This present article completes the story through to June 1993 when the prime minister resigned. The changes have continued under a variety of influences and haw altered the ways in which technology development has been funded, organized and promoted by the federal government in Canada. They have generally been in line with the recommendations of the Wright report, making it a suitable framework against which to consider developments in this field during the six years covered by this present article.
PERSUADING THE PUBLIC TO MAKE BETTER USE OF NATURAL HAZARDS INFORMATION
Authors: Gregory Geoff
Published: October 2008

Although natural hazards information is enthusiastically promulgated, research shows that the majority of the public adopt few of the self-protective behaviours recommended by civil defence authorities. Fear appeals seem to be unpredictable in their results and largely ineffective in their desired outcomes. Some of the complex factors intervening between perception and behaviour are reviewed. Communication that induces a community to make itself better prepared against natural disasters must incorporate messages inspiring people to find it worthwhile to search for more information about what they and their neighbours and friends can do for themselves to reduce the risks.
JAPAN'S USE OF COLLABORATIVE RESEARCH TO BUILD A COMPUTER INDUSTRY: LESSONS FOR THE UK?
Authors: Ray Tim , Buisseret Tim
Published: October 2008

The announcement by Japan's Ministry of Trade and Industry in 1981 of its intention to use government-sponsored collaborative research to lead the world towards ‘Fifth Generation’ computing prompted a sudden enthusiasm for collaboration in Europe and the US. The UK was at the vanguard of this movement to ‘learn from Japan’ and used pre-competitive collaborative research as the central organizing theme of its Alvey Programme to strengthen the country's ability to compete in advanced information technology (IT). While Alvey produced a number of benefits, commercialization of research outputs fell short of popular Western perceptions of Japan's achievements. However, a review of MITI schemes prior to the Fifth Generation announcement reveals that, for the most part, they were neither pre-competitive nor collaborative. Moreover, problems with abstracting the operation of MITI's schemes from other aspects of Japan's national innovation system undermine their value as a model for UK policy.
ALTERNATIVE GOVERNMENT POLICIES FOR GENERAL PRACTITIONER LOCATION: INFORMATION, PRICES AND INCOMES
Authors: Connelly L.B. , Doessel D.P.
Published: October 2008

The Commonwealth Government has recently implemented a scheme which involves financial incentives for general practitioners to relocate from urban areas to rural/ remote areas of Australia. The purpose of this scheme is to redress differential provision and utilisation of general practice services across space. This paper describes systematic differences in the prices and quantities of general practitioner services and general practitioner incomes provided in different regions of the State of Queensland for 1991–92. More specifically, it is found that prices and incomes are higher in more remote regions of the state. The paper concludes with a consideration of an alternative policy, i.e. relocation could be effected by the dissemination of information on the regional differences in prices and incomes.
AUSTRALIAN JOURNALISTS' REACTIONS TO NEW TECHNOLOGY
Authors: Henningham John
Published: October 2008

The new technology which has revolutionised newsrooms over the last decade has been generally accepted by Australian journalists, who believe the quality of their work has improved and time savings have occurred. Older journalists are somewhat less enthusiastic, but when controlling for age there are no sex differences in reactions to technology. Journalists who are stressed and those who admit to being cynics are less sanguine about the benefits of technology, while those who are job-satisfied and optimistic about the future are more pro-technology.
THE ROLE OF ECONOMIES OF SCALE IN AUSTRALIAN R&D
Authors: Mitchell Shannon K. , Stonecash Robin E.
Published: October 2008

Australia does relatively little R&D. One possible explanation is that as a small country, Australia cannot take advantage of scale economies. A schema is provided for the role of economies of scale in R&D. Case studies from the automotive, mining, and pharmaceuticals industries show examples of successful R&D in Australia. These case studies illustrate that if Australian firms are internationally competitive, then economies of scale in production need not hamper R&D. Even when at a comparative disadvantage in producing a product, Australia may still be competitive in basic research or the initial development of ideas.
THE AUSTRALIAN RESEARCH GRANTS COMMITTEE: AN ACCOUNT OF THE WAY THINGS WERE
Authors: Aitkin Don
Published: October 2008

Publicly-funded research granting bodies depend for their prosperity and survival on a clear understanding of the need to make their processes and outcomes important not only to the recipients but to the Government which provides the funding. This paper examines the processes and perspective of the Australian Research Grants Committee in the last years of its existence and suggests that its abolition and replacement by a different body are understandable in those terms.
A MICROBIOLOGIST IN INDUSTRY: THE CAREER OF AN AUSTRALIAN WOMAN SCIENTIST
Authors: Allen Nessy
Published: October 2008

Of Australia's women scientists of the generation born before 1930 Margaret Dick was exceptional in that her contribution was made in industry. Only in the twentieth century has scientific knowledge made it possible to preserve food by controlling the microorganisms which grown on it. Dick became Chief Microbiologist with Kraft Foods Ltd., responsible for the safety standards and microbial quality of all its products. With her technical knowledge and unique practical experience she contributed to the community, to education and to the work of the various Government bodies responsible for public health. The paper describes the work and achievements of this pioneer of food technology.
NUMBER PORTABILITY, REGULATION AND THE LEVEL PLAYING FIELD: AN EMERGENT POLICY HETERODOXY?
Authors: Pitt Doug , Huntley John , Levine Niall
Published: October 2008

Number portability has rapidly ascended the regulatory agenda of contemporary telecommunications public policy. As a techno-regulatory device for facilitating competition, number portability is in good currency. The experiences of the United States, Britain and Europe suggest, however, that the implementation of portability remains essentially contestable. The analysis reveals the continuing presence of stakeholder interests in this instalment of the telecommunications de-regulatory game.
A TELECOMMUNICATIONS INFRASTRUCTURE IS NOT AN INFORMATION INFRASTRUCTURE
Authors: Lamberton Don
Published: October 2008

We are now living in the Information Age, where information-handling activities, taken, together, are the dominant claim on resources. The infrastructure needed to make this socio-economic system work is much more than the phones, switches, cables and satellites of the telecommunications engineers and the telecommunications equipment industry. The other complementary resources are a mix of people with skills, organizational capital, markets, a legal framework, regulatory institutions, and, especially, information stocks. Our concept of capital has to take in this mixed bag of resources.

A focus on the social and economic implications of the growth of codified knowledge may well contribute to understanding the complex processes of change given new emphasis by the Information Age. One way of tackling this task is to develop a taxonomy of information, based on its economically significant characteristics, to replace the general purpose concept now in wide use.
TELEVISION FUTURES IN AUSTRALIA
Authors: O'Regan Tom
Published: October 2008

In this paper I discuss “Television Futures in Australia” and social science's attempts to describe that future. In the first part of the paper I note characteristics of the discussion of television futures drawing attention to the communicative positions of the various industry players and their resulting debate cultures. I also insist on the role played by mundane actions of agents in the broader television milieu. In the remainder of the essay, I discuss some characteristics of television generally not in dispute identifying the ways various agents—industry and social scientists alike—apprehend the future by projecting alternative uptake scenarios. In one way or another all these questions come back to questions surrounding Australian content which I want to pose in the first instance not so much as a question of content regulation as a question of distribution of cultural discounts in program formats.
REVIEW ARTICLE ENVIRONMENTAL IMPACT ASSESSMENT: WHY REFORM IS NEEDED
Authors: Goldberg John
Published: October 2008

Experiences of environmental impact assessment (EIA) for some major transportation projects, particularly in urban areas strongly suggest that decisions have been made with highly adverse environmental consequences. Political and bureaucratic influences have overridden scientific and economic inputs to the EIA process subverting the intent of environmental legislation. This imbalance could be considered as a corruption of democratic government in favour of vested interests. Reform of the process must therefore involve redrafting of legislation, at the same time making it uniform throughout Australia. Timely disclosure of information will be assisted by appropriate change in freedom of information legislation throughout Australia in order to prevent bureaucratic delay and prevarication. Disclosure will also be assisted by revision of the defamation laws so that public comment on the activities of proponents, bureaucrats, consultants and politicians will not be inhibited. Judicial inquiries requiring environmental evidence by affidavit and subject to cross-examination may prove to be the most cost-effective way of ensuring overall integrity of the process. These matters are discussed with reference to a recent book on EIA.
Information Technology: A Critical Perspective on its Economic Effects
Authors: PREISSL BRIGITTE
Published: October 2008

Information Technology (IT) is commonly seen as the most important motor for growth and economic restructuring in the near future. Visions about massive benefits to be derived from these developments are contrasted by frustration over productivity effects, by uncertainty about impacts on employment, and by concerns about a general ‘information overflow’ in a global network society. The contradictions between enthusiastic forecasts and much more sober outcomes have given rise to a debate on the potential and danger of IT. The present paper intends to add to this debate. Promises of common IT scenarios will be confronted with problem-oriented and critical approaches. The paper proceeds from an analysis of deficits in the current debates towards the identification of new elements of a critical approach in IT research.
Multidisciplinary Policy Research—An Australian Experience
Authors: BAMMER GABRIELE
Published: October 2008

A brief overview is provided of a project which examined the feasibility of conducting a trial of heroin prescription for dependent heroin users. The processes used in the feasibility study brought together multiple disciplines and interest groups and some detailed examples of how this worked are presented. The paper concludes by drawing out some general strands relating to the strengths of multidisciplinary research generally, guidelines for how to do it and comments on multidisciplinary policy research in particular.
Communicative Strategies and the Evolution of Organisations Facing the New Turbulence: ICTs as Problems and Opportunities
Authors: HEARN GREG , NINAN ABRAHAM
Published: October 2008

Traditional organisational structures are currently being challenged by rapid changes in their environments, primarily caused by the introduction of computer and information technology. Successful transition to new patterns of organisation which makes sense of the complex meaning of these new environments require both ‘creative’ (self organising) and stabilising (self referencing) processes. This paper justifies the theoretical importance of considering communication as a necessary response by organisations to non-linear change. The processes by which organisations might accommodate new organisational turbulence and strategies for creating desirable futures within turbulent organisational environments are considered.
Signs of Convergence? Images of the University in the Management of R&D
Authors: RANDLE KEITH
Published: October 2008

This paper examines the adoption of university images in a pharmaceutical R&D company, arguing that this may be intended to bring benefits to management. The author finds some irony in this, identifying tendencies within the UK higher education system to draw on the images and the practices of business and commerce in its own management. Drawing on empirical data from interviews at Pharmco, the paper argues that, in practice, the image cannot be sustained and competition in the pharmaceutical sector is leading to a disparity between the projected image and management practice. Management in both types of organisation, it concludes, are responding to their respective environments by tightening control.
Pioneering Strategies and Small Firms, an Australia–UK Comparison
Authors: LOWE JULIAN
Published: October 2008

An important aspect of strategic choke is whether to be a pioneer or a follower. This issue is especially important for small and medium sized enterprises (SMEs), potentially disadvantaged by scale in design, production and marketing. However, empirical evidence suggests that, in spite of their size, SMEs may benefit from being pioneers or first movers'. Indeed, in some markets being first may be the only way SMEs can compete against larger firms, whose advantages in exploitation may be more scale intensive than in earlier stages of the innovation process.

The UK and Australian economies present an interesting context for a comparison of SME pioneering strategies. The UK market is larger and its relative competitiveness is increased by smaller geographical distance and the ability of the market to support a greater number of firms, both large and small. Such differences in the potential competitiveness of markets might substantially influence the nature of SME strategies and the role of pioneering advantage.

The study reported in this paper examines the strategies of a matched sample of 478 firms in Australia and the UK. Timing of entry models are developed and tested. The different economic contexts, however, provide contrasting explanations of pioneering strategies. Technological turbulence and size of firm appear to be important determinants of strategy in both countries, but are most statistically significant for UK firms. Perceived competitive advantage provides the bulk of explanation of strategic behaviour for Australian firms. The overall UK models perform better statistically, suggesting that there may be more convergence towards some ‘norm’ for these firms. Overall statistical fit suggests a robust model construction and successful operationalisation of important strategy variables.
Public Funding of Agricultural Research: Competitive Versus Non-Competitive Mechanisms
Authors: Tisdell Clem
Published: October 2008

A substantial portion of agricultural research and development (R&D) is publicly funded. It is therefore, important to give attention to the socially ideal allocation and administration of funds for agricultural R&D as is done here. The types of mechanisms used to allocate these public funds and administer their uses can be expected to influence the research results produced and ultimately the level of returns or benefits obtained from this expenditure. Different public mechanisms for allocating and administering agricultural research funding are discussed from this point of view, paying attention to economic considerations. The non-competitive allocation of block grants to institutions is compared with their competitive allocation. Possibilities for allocation to sections of institutions or to individuals are also considered. Centralized versus decentralized mechanisms for allocating and administering R&D within organizations are discussed. In designing appropriate mechanisms for the allocation and administration of the use of public agricultural R&D funds, account needs to be taken of such factors as transaction costs, knowledge limitations, the importance of learning by doing the accretion of institutional capital and the collective accumulation of knowledge and skills within organizations. These factors together with market failures, limit the scope for efficient use of competitive mechanisms in allocating funds for agricultural R&D.
CRCs and Transdisciplinary Research: What are the Implications for Science?
Authors: Turpin Tim
Published: October 2008

A number of authors have recently proposed a future for science where the traditional academic mode of knowledge production, primarily organised on disciplinary lines, is largely replaced by a different mode of knowledge production that is more transient in its organisational forms.

If correct, the new mode of knowledge production has implications for the research cultures of universities, government research institutes, or industrial laboratories. But in particular, the trend has implications for research arrangements, such as Cooperative Research Centres (CRCs), because the CRCs seek to integrate, yet maintain, many of the characteristics of each sector that are likely to be significantly transformed by this new mode of knowledge production. Further, the CRCs themselves already reflect the salient characteristics proposed by this new mode of knowledge. It is therefore important to consider the impact that CRCs are having on the culture of science itself.
Policies for Transforming the Science and Innovation System in New Zealand: 1988–97
Authors: Winsley Peter , Hammond Laurie
Published: October 2008

In 1989, the New Zealand Government initiated a fundamental reform of its science and technology system, leading to a transformation of science management in New Zealand. The politics that transformed the New Zealand science and innovation system in the last decade have established a system that is unique among OECD countries. Its transformation continues, through increasingly sophisticated attention to definition of outcomes and evaluation of performance at the strategic level. Its commitment to policy innovation will mean that the New Zealand system continues to be worthy of analysis in the next decade.
HTSF Marketing and Customer Education: A Role for a Technology Awareness Programme?
Authors: PANDIT NARESH , SWANN G. M.
                      PETER , WATTS TIM
Published: October 2008

This article looks at the rationale for government-sponsored technology awareness programmes in very new areas of technology, with special reference to virtual reality technology. For some high technology small firms (HTSFs) operating in new areas, marketing costs can be high even before sales are made because the HTSF has to invest in educating customers. If the pioneering firm does not appropriate the benefits of this investment because it does not make a sale—but later entrants do—then there is a positive externality that may in principle give rise to market failure. The article examines the relevance of the three traditional sources of market failure in this context. It finds that market failure provides a less compelling rationale for proactive policy than more recent evolutionary analyses of path-dependence in technology diffusion. The article shows how the optimal design of a technology awareness programme depends on the underlying economic rationale for the programme.
Innovation and the Patent Attorney
Authors: MACDONALD STUART , LEFANG BERNARD
Published: October 2008

Patents, as one of the few quantifiable outputs of research, are increasingly being used as an indicator of the less quantifiable—innovation, and the competitiveness that is assumed to spring from innovation—on the grounds that these, too, are outputs of research. The part that patents actually play in innovation has become confused with their representational role. This article steps back from the confusion of what patents do and what patents indicate being done, to examine the nexus itself. In good patent tradition, this can be achieved by means of an indicator—the patent attorney. Increased involvement of the patent attorney in innovation would seem to be a reasonable measure of the intensification of the patent-innovation nexus. On the implications of this intensification, the article merely speculates, though with some consternation. How can the logic of the patent system sustain the argument that information is protected so that it can be disclosed when increased incentive to protect is in conflict with the incentive to disclose? What role is there for creativity and serendipity in an innovation process that is legalistic and litigious? It is even worth considering what value patents retain as indicators when growing acceptance of their association with innovation gives them a value in their own right. Indeed, this value may sometimes be so great that innovation itself is rendered irrelevant.
Reluctance to Innovate: A Case Study of the Titanium Dioxide Industry
Authors: HANSON DALLAS , STEEN JOHN , LIESCH PETER
Published: October 2008

An autopoietic explanation is offered to explain the reluctance of a major international manufacturer of titanium dioxide to adopt a production process that might have enabled it to retain competitive advantage. Alternative explanations which focus solely on economic considerations and innovation difficulties are discussed, but it is concluded that they are merely part of an autopoietic explanation of a cultural blanket which engulfed the organisation. To support the argument, case evidence is presented on Tioxide's operations with a focus on Burnie, Tasmania.
The United States and the Global Information Infrastructure: Orchestrator, Functionary, or Mediator?
Authors: COMOR EDWARD A.
Published: October 2008

This article examines the position of the American state in contemporary information and communication sector globalisation activities. Through an assessment of the role played by the United States in Uruguay Round GA TT services and intellectual property rights provisions and related global information infrastructure developments, the author argues that advancements in analytical precision and subsequent strategic opportunity can be attained by conceptualising the American state as a complex mediator of emerging national and transnational corporate-based interests.
Plant Pathology in Western Australia: The Contributions of an Australian Woman Scientist
Authors: ALLEN NESSY
Published: October 2008

Very few women after the second World War made agricultural science their first career choice. Olga May Goss, however, in her 35 years in the Western Australian Department of Agriculture, saved more than one industry from ruin, thus contributing in no small measure to the economic prosperity of her state and her country. It was by chance that, after a serious illness, Goss was offered a post in the Department to work on plant diseases. The only woman in her Section, Goss faced personal as well as legislative discrimination; nevertheless over the years she tackled many problems confronting growers and through her research illuminated several areas of plant pathology, notably bacteriology and nematology. This article describes the career of this woman who was not only an excellent scientist but also a rare human being.
Half Way Home in Electric Vehicles: A Strategic Reassessment
Authors: McGrath Robert N.
Published: October 2008

The time originally allotted in 1990 by the California legislature for the introduction of commercializable zero-emissions vehicles is about half gone. Using frameworks developed to help analyze product substitution dynamics in emerging industries, this paper discusses the economic and market dynamics of ongoing attempts to commercialize electric vehicles, as they compete against internal combustion engine automobiles. Relative value/price, switching costs, and buyer propensity to substitute are emphasized. An assessment of forces is made and recommendations for the strategic direction of individual firms and the industry at large are offered.
Information Subsidies, Journalism Routines and the Australian Media: Market Liberalization versus Marketplace of Ideas
Authors: Butler Barbara-Ann
Published: October 2008

Information technology is invariably equated with liberalization and greater citizen access to knowledge. However, some economies of scale made possible by technology, together with contemporary information-gathering and distribution processes, may diminish rather than enhance democratic practices. Analyses of the contributions of journalists and sources to television news reveal some consequences of technological innovation and organizational behaviour in the Australian media that justify retention of existing cross-media ownership laws restricting media barons to being princes of print or queens of screen.
Future Development of New Zealand's Science and Technology System
Authors: Winsley Peter , Couchman Paul , Gilbertson Dai
Published: October 2008

A new science system was set up in Mew Zealand from 1989–97, and it is now time to focus on its future development. Further development of Mew Zealand's science system must be driven by a new understanding of how science and technology drives economic growth. The future enhancement of Mew Zealand's science system must be placed within a system of innovation framework, it must focus on outcomes and on differentiated technological learning and knowledge application, and it must place more emphasis on the role research plays in creating human capital. Mew Zealand must also focus more effort on policies that foster technological innovation, including through an increased focus on skill development in firms, and the development of demand-side interventions.
Explaining Television Stations' Preferences for Imported Drama Programs
Authors: Papandrea Franco
Published: October 2008

The article attempts to explain the apparent discrepancy between strong opposition to the minimum quota for Australian domestic drama and the regular supply of domestic drama in excess of the quota. The article examines the relative profitability of domestic and imported television drama programs in the Australian market. It finds that, although successful domestic drama series are popular with audiences and are profitable to broadcasters, the high risk associated with production of new series acts as a powerful disincentive. Consequently, it is likely that without regulation fewer domestic drama programs would be produced in Australia.