bluuebunny/crossref_metadata_2025_split huggingface dataset:
Social management in professional organizations: searching for new impulses
Authors: Tuininga E. J. 
Published: May 2007

The paper addresses the present interest in human resources management in Dutch professional organizations, primarily in research institutions and engineering firms. The author has used the opportunity afforded by interviews with seven personnel managers to check their experiences with the academic literature on the social policies for professionals. He also benefited from responses of the interviewed persons and five personnel managers of industrial research organizations to his draft paper. After the overview of the policies of the seven organizations, the article looks at theoretical aspects that seem to stick out as essential for a more coherent social policy for professionals.First, it is concluded that management of human sources is not a hot issue in science and engineering discussions, but the need for it is often mentioned. Career development issues are already discussed in this and other journals, but still seem to be a key problem as there are no simple solutions available. Mid‐career issues are acknowledged and new directions for this increasingly important problem are discussed. Job assignment and motivation seem to be essential elements in career development. Management can increase the motivation by offering challenging assignments and opportunities for education and training, even at a later stage in the career of a professional. Some remarks are made about the advantages of the ‘dual ladder system’ for career development and the system of ‘assessment centres’ for career development selection of managers.The article ends with a strong plea for more management interest in the human resources aspect of professional Organizations. A new conference on the subject would be timely.
The manufacturing/design interface
Authors: Van Dierdonck R. 
Published: May 2007

The paper explains why the traditional relationship between design and manufacturing needs to be changed and what it should be replaced with. Traditionally, the relationship has been sequential. At the beginning of the innovation process design goes ahead alone, manufacturing's input being largely overlooked. Only after the design has been completed does manufacturing take over responsibility, and only then may it emerge that re‐design is necessary to make production feasible. The results can be high costs, late delivery and disappointing performance.The changes that have made this practice less supportable include shortened product lifecycles, Japanese competition, customers becoming increasingly quality‐conscious, need to deliver exactly on time, and minimization of inventories.Fortunately, new technologies such as CAD/CAM and FMS have come along that can help to rectify these deficiencies; how far they are taken up and effectively used depends on the sharp distinction between the functions being discarded and replaced by their substantial integration. Possibilities that each enterprise could explore include ensuring continuous communication and cooperation between the functions, joint problem solving, replacement of functional management by project management, supplier involvement, elimination of the status differential between design and manufacturing, design for manufacturability, and better understanding by the design function of the realities of the business world.The author warns that integration may not be a universal cure. In particular, he suggests that the innovations closely linked with scientific advances may need some degree of functional differentiation.Changes in the competitive environment require manufacturing organizations to change their view on the relationship between manufacturing and design, and on the way the interface between these two functions has to be managed. In this paper we will first describe the traditional view. Afterwards we will describe the environmental changes that make us question the effectiveness of this view. Finally in a third part we will describe the characteristics of the new approach.
Industrial exploitation of new joining technologies
Authors: Williams J. J. E. 
Published: May 2007

Joining technology is critical to manufacturing and fabrication industries, since it greatly influences the design, assembly and ultimate competitiveness of the product. In particular, adhesive bonding is now attracting strong interest from many industries. This trend is further strengthened by dramatic advances in new materials, many of which cannot be joined by conventional means.However, most industries are failing to exploit the opportunities offered by current adhesive technology, for a variety of reasons. CEST (the Centre for Exploitation of Science and Technology) has undertaken to examine these reasons, and to initiate a programme of actions which will lead to wider acceptance of adhesive joining within industry.We have selected a number of companies from a range of industries, which we believe can effectively drive the exploitation process. By working closely with these companies it has been possible to define a number of strategic projects, which will promote this exploitation process. Several projects consist of targeted research and development, to fill the ‘missing links’ of technology which have impeded exploitation to date.These coordinated actions will be initiated from the end of 1989. Typically, these projects will be collaborative, involving both industrial and university or polytechnic partners. The scopes of a number of such projects are described in detail, and their potential impacts on manufacturing processes are explained.
Technology analysis and R&D management
Authors: Van Wyk Rias J. 
Published: May 2007

Technology analysis is a new field of knowledge aimed at creating a fuller understanding of the technological setting within which business operates. It provides a macro‐discipline and is specifically aimed at improving the effectiveness of management of technology. As such it is of direct relevance to R&D management.The essential tools of technology analysis constitute a set of analytical frameworks covering aspects such as: (i) a common approach to describing individual technological artefacts, (ii) a taxonomy of technologies, (iii) a classification of technological trends, (iv) a chart of technological limits, and (v) a socio‐technical preference profile.These frameworks help the R&D manager to dissect and debate typical R&D management problems such as: (i) selecting R&D projects, (ii) setting broad R&D objectives in the case of a given project and (iii) setting specific R&D goals to meet the said objectives. The frameworks also help the R&D manager to portray and present research achievements within a simple and intuitively appealing framework.
Industry characteristics influencing the technical output: A case of small and medium size firms in the US
Authors: Chakrabarti Alok K. 
Published: May 2007

Using the small and medium size firms in the US as a sample, this paper reports on interrelationship among patents, publications and new products. Correlates of R&D expenditure, patents and papers and new products are presented. Relationships between firm size and R&D output and productivity are also investigated.Since the study is based on correlational analysis, causal inferences are not drawn. The data indicates that the three indicators are related, but their strength of relationship varies with industries. Growth of sales is related with new products, but not with patents or papers.Although the data point to the fact that small firms are more productive than their larger counterparts, there are many reasons to come to such a sweeping generalisation. Reporting of R&D data is not reliable for small firms as the very definition of R&D differs from firm to firm. Nature of R&D also changes as the firm grows in size; opportunities for patents or new products also change accordingly. These make it difficult to accurately measure and compare the R&D efficiency across firms of different sizes.
Stretching the knowledge‐base of the enterprise through contract research
Authors: Haour G. 
Published: May 2007

Global competition is forcing companies to become more effective in developing new products or processes. One of industry's responses to this challenge is to more extensively tap external sources of technical expertise.As one of the modes of gaining access to external technological knowledge, contract research is discussed. First, the offer and demand in this area are documented. Contract research represents a small, but growing, fraction of companies' R&D efforts. Exceptions are ‘young’ sectors, such as biotechnology, which require a strong connection with University research.The characteristics of contract research are then presented and illustrated, considering in particular the factors for which it is most effectively utilised. A major advantage is to provide the client company with an extension of its internal R&D for the duration of the contract. It also offers an effective antenna for capturing business as well as technical intelligence. This is especially the case when the company contracts out work far removed from its location or technical base. Finally, the role of contract research in co‐generating technology is discussed.
Management of European fast reactor R&D
Authors: Judd A. M. , Sheriff N. 
Published: May 2007

AbstractSince 1984 government‐funded fast reactor R&D in France, Germany and the UK has been run as a collaborative activity, and since 1988 as a unified programme in support of the design and construction of the advanced European Fast Reactor. This paper describes the international management structure which has been set up, and the means used to control the work. It is written from the point of view of those engaged in the project, and makes no attempt at a formal analysis of the structure.The main difficulty is that control of funding remains with the three governments. The R&D programme has to be managed so that it meets the needs of each government separately as well as the designers' requirements.To start with the management structure was excessively bureaucratic, but it has become more flexible and efficient. This has happened as the initial nationalistic suspicions have broken down, and the staff engaged in the work have learnt more about each others' ways of working so that an atmosphere of trust and inter‐dependence has grown up.(This paper was written before the changes in UK policy on fast reactor development were announced in November 1992.)
Patterns of international R&D cooperation for new product development: the Olivetti multimedia product
Authors: Zagnoli Patrizia , Cardini Chiara 
Published: May 2007

AbstractThe aim of the paper is to identify a number of different patterns of international R&D cooperation during the initial phases of the product development process. This is a case‐study of new product development based on the work of the Olivetti Multimedia Laboratory in Pisa, how it set up its own pattern of multinational collaboration in the idea generation and pre‐competitive phase; how, in turn, this collaboration led to new R&D collaboration agreements to satisfy specific problem‐solving requirements connected with the confirmation of a dominant design, though limited to a certain extent by previous agreements between Olivetti and other firms; the role played by marketing in the choice of alternative solutions. Finally, in the product implementation phase, the emergence of a defined technological paradigm leads to a highly competitive environment, where R&D collaboration is increasingly directed towards multifunctional requirements (R&D, manufacturing, marketing) within a strategic network of alliances that involves large sized companies, start‐up firms, industrial and university research units.
Application of option pricing theory to R&D
Authors: Newton D. P. , Pearson A. W. 
Published: May 2007

AbstractMuch attention has been paid in the literature to methods for the evaluation and selection of R&D projects. The evidence is that these are less extensively used than might be expected. More recently, an approach based on Option Pricing Theory has been suggested as one which is likely to be of considerable value to management. In this paper the method is described, the information which is required is identified and the way in which it might be applied in practice is discussed.
Assessing the rate of technological progress using hazard rate models of R&D communities
Authors: Rappa Michael A. 
Published: May 2007

AbstractThis paper describes the use of hazard rate models for assessing emerging technologies. It suggests that on a global scale the decisions of researchers, in terms of their entrance, continuance, and exit from a field, can serve as an indicator of the rate of progress in the emergence of a new technology. The approach is demonstrated using the literature on magnetic bubble memory technology as a source of data to determine the contribution‐spans of researchers. Survival and hazard functions are estimated based upon the experience of more than seventeen‐hundred researchers contributing to the field over two decades.The author is indebted to Professor Raghu Garud (New York University) and Dr. Koenraad Debackere (Gent University) for their help in developing this avenue of research, and Professors Thomas Allen and Edward Roberts (MIT) for their support and encouragement.
R&D project selection for promoting the efficiency of energy use
Authors: Silvennoinen P. 
Published: May 2007

AbstractScreening criteria for selecting energy R& D projects are discussed and applied to a dozen projects currently underway. The impact on energy balance and environmental quality cannot be seen as the only, nor even the dominating, attribute. In the cases studied, the R&D portfolio seeks to achieve a balance between these factors and the other criteria related to technology and the market. In the event the development work is carried out at an independent R&D centre, it will be necessary to have a committed industrial partner from an early stage onwards in order to ensure objectivity, market perception and provide the best chance of commercialisation.
Technological communities and the diffusion of knowledge: a replication and validation
Authors: Debackere Koenraad , Rappa Michael A. 
Published: May 2007

AbstractIn a previous paper, we have argued that technological communities provide a useful level of analysis to examine information and knowledge flows among researchers. Based on an international survey of more than 700 scientists and engineers engaged in the development of neural network technology, the information and knowledge exchange patterns of two important subsets of that particular technological community, i.e. academic researchers and industrial researchers, were explored. The analyses demonstrated that industrial researchers, even if they are more commercially oriented than their colleagues in academia, recognise the professional community as a relevant locus of information and knowledge. An obvious methodological need exists, though, to generalize beyond the neural networks community. This is the aim of the present paper. Based on questionnaire surveys of researchers belonging to two other technological communities, the empirical results from the neural network community study are replicated and, to a large extent, validated.
An analysis of entry and persistence among scientists in an emerging field of science: the case of neural networks
Authors: Rappa Michael A. , Debackere Koenraad 
Published: May 2007

AbstractThis paper examines the factors that influence scientists in their choice and persistence in an area of research, and compares the experience of scientists who enter a field early with those scientists who follow in their footsteps once the field becomes widely accepted. Evidence is presented from an international survey of more than seven‐hundred scientists working in the field of neural networks. After controlling for cohort and experience effects, the results suggest that early entrants as a group are indeed different in both their motivations to enter and their persistence to remain in the field. In general, compared with scientists who enter late, early entrants are significantly less influenced by the social dynamics of the research community.
Measuring the economic benefit from R&D: results from the mass, length and flow programmes of the UK national measurement system
Authors: Klein Jeremy A. , Stacey Edward P. , Coggill Christopher J. , McLean Mick , Sagua May I. 
Published: May 2007

AbstractThis study sought to measure the economic consequences of reduced expenditure on specific sections of the UK National Measurement System (NMS), part of the state‐funded technological infrastructure. A method was developed which can be adapted to any publicly or privately financed R&D of which the benefits and cost‐effectiveness are unclear or contested.The recent interactions between the NMS and industry were investigated empirically. Five mechanisms were found to account for the majority of instances of successful value creation. Several case studies of each mechanism were collected, illustrating their existence beyond reasonable doubt.Each of the cut projects would have been expected to have encouraged growth and profitability in identified sectors of the economy through one or more of these five mechanisms. The effects of the cuts were modelled over 30 years. Compared to the costs of the cut projects projected over the same period, the benefits to the economy were predicted to exceed the costs.
Developing a ‘receptive’ R&D environment for inward technology transfer: a case study of the chemical industry
Authors: Trott P. , Cordey‐Hayes M. 
Published: May 2007

AbstractThe purpose of this paper is to show how certain internal organisational activities affect an organisation's ability to engage in the external acquisition of technology commonly referred to as inward technology transfer. The study focuses on a technology trawling exercise conducted by ICI and reveals difficulties in ‘receptivity’ on the part of the receiving businesses. A conceptual framework is developed which identifies four major components of the inward technology transfer process. These are: ‘Awareness’‐‘Association’‐‘Assimilation’‐‘ Application’. Using this conceptual device separate studies are conducted within two large multinational chemical companies in the North West of England. The findings reveal the importance of certain non‐routine activities and indicate how successful organisations are able to manage the tension between the need for creative non‐routine assimilation processes to generate a ‘receptive’ environment for future growth and efficient routine activities to remain competitive in the short‐ierm.
The development of networks between engineering contractors and their clients: the special case of partnering
Authors: Robertson H. , Pearson A. W. , Ball D. F. 
Published: May 2007

AbstractThis paper sets out to show how partnering arrangements between engineering contractors in process plant contracting and their process industry clients have led to increasing collaborative contributions at the ‘front end’ of capital asset formation. Partnering arrangements are seen here as formalised long‐term contracts between process plant contractors and their clients, intended to apply to engineering and other services in major capital projects over a number of years.While research does not appear to have been affected to a significant extent, partners seem to be interacting increasingly on process development and design. One outcome of partnering is to increase the contractors' involvement in their clients' overall business objectives. As a result of this change in the character of their services, contractors are more inclined to seek opportunities to improve plant efficiency, rather than following given specifications. This interaction of entities with a different focus and, to some extent, different skills is a potential source of innovation which to date has not been realised to any great extent.
Choice or No Choice: Is the Langer Effect Evidence Against Simulation?
Authors: KÜHBERGER ANTON , PERNER JOSEF , SCHULTE MICHAEL , LEINGRUBER ROBERT 
Published: May 2007

Abstract: The discussion of whether people understand themselves and others by using theories of behaviour (theory theory) or by simulating mental states (simulation theory) lacks conclusive empirical evidence. Nichols et al. (1996) have proposed the Langer effect (Langer, 1975) as a critical test. From people's inability accurately to predict the difference in the subjective value of lottery tickets in choice and no‐choice conditions, they argued that people do not simulate behaviour in such situations.In a series of four experiments, we consistently failed to replicate the original difference between choice and no‐choice under the conditions used by Nichols et al. We conclude that the replicability of the effect depends on an unknown combination of factors. As long as the target effect is not better understood and under better experimental control, it is difficult to use it as a yardstick against which the accuracy of simulation can be assessed.
An expert system for wide area network component configuration
Authors: Fillmer J.L. , Mellichamp Joseph M. , Miller David M. , Narayanan Sundaram 
Published: May 2007

Abstract: Many organizations today have an interest in communications networks, either as users of public networks or as operators of their own private networks. Thus, the management of communications networks has become an important issue in the communications industry. The network design task is fundamental to the whole notion of network management; however, with the rapid rate of change in network technology and the emergence of highly sophisticated network users, network design has become an increasingly complex problem.The purpose of this paper is to describe a development effort which incorporates expert systems techniques to treat one aspect of the network design problem—the initial planning and design of a network prior to implementation. The research effort was concerned with developing an expert system for Amdahl Communications Products which could be used by sales engineers in designing wide area networks to meet specified customer requirements. The system treats both the topological design problem and the component configuration problem.