title: Communicating innovation: An appreciative inquiry investigation into innovation in China

authors: Xu, Xinli

subjects: innovation

abstract: The thesis considers that the intersection of creativity, innovation management, and communication are under researched in China. It seeks make a contribution to this area through exploratory research in a range of companies in Wenzhou, a south-east city in Zhejiang province, China. By researching firms across different sectors, and through analysing the companies‟ experiences of innovation generation and implementation, this thesis offers findings in a range of areas including: the apprehension of successful innovation, innovation and top leadership, and the relationship between innovation and customer value creations. The main findings indicate several aspects of innovation in China. First, Chinese enterprises considered successful innovations as those can bring profitable growth. Second, top leadership drives innovation and has the greatest influence on corporate innovation in Chinese enterprises. Third, although few companies in Wenzhou have created new products, or new markets, an increasing number of customer-oriented innovations occurred in recent years in Chinese enterprises. In addition, investigations on Corporate Social Responsibility (CSR) after the field research, reveals that Chinese state-owned enterprises may be promoting similar ideas in relation to innovation and CSR. To sum up, this research project provided an insight into recent perceptions of innovation, innovation readiness, and innovation achievement by Chinese enterprises in Wenzhou.

text: Communicating innovation: An appreciative inquiry investigation into innovation in China The thesis considers that the intersection of creativity, innovation management, and communication are under researched in China. It seeks make a contribution to this area through exploratory research in a range of companies in Wenzhou, a south-east city in Zhejiang province, China. By researching firms across different sectors, and through analysing the companies‟ experiences of innovation generation and implementation, this thesis offers findings in a range of areas including: the apprehension of successful innovation, innovation and top leadership, and the relationship between innovation and customer value creations. The main findings indicate several aspects of innovation in China. First, Chinese enterprises considered successful innovations as those can bring profitable growth. Second, top leadership drives innovation and has the greatest influence on corporate innovation in Chinese enterprises. Third, although few companies in Wenzhou have created new products, or new markets, an increasing number of customer-oriented innovations occurred in recent years in Chinese enterprises. In addition, investigations on Corporate Social Responsibility (CSR) after the field research, reveals that Chinese state-owned enterprises may be promoting similar ideas in relation to innovation and CSR. To sum up, this research project provided an insight into recent perceptions of innovation, innovation readiness, and innovation achievement by Chinese enterprises in Wenzhou.

year: 2009

title: μ-Chart-based specification and refinement

authors: Goldson, Doug

subjects: computer science

abstract: We introduce two new notions of refinement for μ-charts and compare them with the existing notion due to Scholz. The two notions are interesting and important because one gives rise (via a logic) to a calculus for constructing refinements and the other gives rise (via model checking) to a way of checking that refinements hold. Thus we bring together the two competing worlds of model checking and proof.

text: μ-Chart-based specification and refinement We introduce two new notions of refinement for μ-charts and compare them with the existing notion due to Scholz. The two notions are interesting and important because one gives rise (via a logic) to a calculus for constructing refinements and the other gives rise (via model checking) to a way of checking that refinements hold. Thus we bring together the two competing worlds of model checking and proof.

year: 2002

title: A newly-available resource for historians of early New Zealand: The Marist Missionary Letters (1838-54)

authors: Jennings, William

abstract: The 7000 pages of primary documents of the Lettres reçues d’Océanie constitute a vast new source for the study of the Pacific during the period 1838-54. Published in 2009 after sixteen years of transcription, the Lettres are the collected correspondence of the first French Marist missionaries to New Zealand and other Pacific islands. In the words of Pacific historian Hugh Laracy, they are ‘the single most important foundational contribution to Pacific history in its fullest extent since J. C. Beaglehole’s magisterial editions of James Cook’s Journals. About 2000 of those pages are transcripts of letters written in New Zealand that open up a fresh perspective of life before the wars of the 1860’s. This paper will locate the early French Marist Māori mission within the context of New Zealand public history before exploring how the Lettres reçues d’Océanie can complement existing views of early colonial New Zealand. To better contextualise the correspondence, it would be useful to begin with a brief background of the Marists’ presence in New Zealand.

text: A newly-available resource for historians of early New Zealand: The Marist Missionary Letters (1838-54) The 7000 pages of primary documents of the Lettres reçues d’Océanie constitute a vast new source for the study of the Pacific during the period 1838-54. Published in 2009 after sixteen years of transcription, the Lettres are the collected correspondence of the first French Marist missionaries to New Zealand and other Pacific islands. In the words of Pacific historian Hugh Laracy, they are ‘the single most important foundational contribution to Pacific history in its fullest extent since J. C. Beaglehole’s magisterial editions of James Cook’s Journals. About 2000 of those pages are transcripts of letters written in New Zealand that open up a fresh perspective of life before the wars of the 1860’s. This paper will locate the early French Marist Māori mission within the context of New Zealand public history before exploring how the Lettres reçues d’Océanie can complement existing views of early colonial New Zealand. To better contextualise the correspondence, it would be useful to begin with a brief background of the Marists’ presence in New Zealand.

year: 2012