Matthew M. Mars, Janet Bercovitz and Barclay E. James
Colleges and universities play a vital role in the creation and dissemination of the innovations that feed the knowledge economy. First, universities carryout a significant…
Abstract
Colleges and universities play a vital role in the creation and dissemination of the innovations that feed the knowledge economy. First, universities carryout a significant portion of the basic research that is conducted in the United States. In 2006, the National Science Foundation reported having awarded $30 B in research-based funding to colleges and universities (National Science Foundation, 2007). While this figure is not an indicator of innovation output, the number helps to demonstrate the scope of research activity that is occurring within the academy. Mansfield (1995) noted that government funding for university research is bent toward science that holds commercial potential and highlighted that such research is likely to produce a high amount of social benefits. Mansfield also concluded that measuring the social returns of university-born (and federally funded) innovations though difficult, is important. Second, universities are instrumental in the production of economically relevant human capital, including students trained in key science and technology disciplines (Leslie & Brinkman, 1988). Audretsch (2007) indicates a highly educated workforce that is capable of creating and moving innovative technologies into the marketplace is a critical component of the current entrepreneurial economy. Also, faculty who intersect industry through consulting and other commercial-related activities make valuable contributions to the economic growth and prosperity of communities, regions, and beyond. In short, colleges and universities are key contributors to the production and function of the innovations that largely drive the knowledge economy.
Christoph H. Glock and Michael G. Broens
This paper analyzes how German municipalities organize their purchasing activities. It aims to identify patterns in the structure of the purchasing function and to study how the…
Abstract
This paper analyzes how German municipalities organize their purchasing activities. It aims to identify patterns in the structure of the purchasing function and to study how the size of the municipality influences the design of its purchasing organization. Therefore, an analytical framework based on contingency and organization theory is developed and results of an empirical study are presented. The results indicate that German municipalities use a medium level of centralization and specialization in organizing their purchasing activities, but that the purchasing process is highly formalized and represented on high hierarchical levels in many cases. As to the relationship between the size of a municipality and the structure of its purchasing function, the study indicates that size, measured by the number of inhabitants, the number of employees and purchasing volume influences the structural variables in various ways.
Roger Mansfield, Michael Poole, Paul Blyton and Paul Frost
Managers are a very large and growing occupational group of substantial economic and social significance. Indeed, by 1978, Lindley estimated that there were as many as 2,146,000…
Abstract
Managers are a very large and growing occupational group of substantial economic and social significance. Indeed, by 1978, Lindley estimated that there were as many as 2,146,000 managers in Britain, corresponding to no less than 8.7 per cent of all employed persons. Despite this, there has been surprisingly little systematic research on managers as an occupational group. However, this has not precluded a substantial amount of comment and speculation about managers and their roles in modern industrial Britain, particularly in the popular media. In a large number of cases, the tone of the argument suggests that managers are being increasingly constrained in their activities and that their “prerogative to manage” has been substantially undermined.
The monograph analyses (a) the potential impact of informationtechnology (IT) on organisational issues that directly concern thepersonnel function; (b) the nature of personnel’s…
Abstract
The monograph analyses (a) the potential impact of information technology (IT) on organisational issues that directly concern the personnel function; (b) the nature of personnel’s involvement in the decision making and activities surrounding the choice and implementation of advanced technologies, and (c) their own use of IT in developing and carrying out their own range of specialist activities. The monograph attempts to explain why personnel’s involvement is often late, peripheral and reactive. Finally, an analysis is made of whether personnel specialists – or the Human Resource Management function more generally – will play a more proactive role in relation to such technologies in the future.
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Michael Poole, Roger Mansfield, Paul Blyton and Paul Frost
In general from the early 1960s onwards there was a marked acceleration of interest in employee participation and industrial democracy. Although this was by no means novel in…
Abstract
In general from the early 1960s onwards there was a marked acceleration of interest in employee participation and industrial democracy. Although this was by no means novel in conception, it was occasioned in this particular period not just by changing balances of power but also by a major adaptation in the climate of values in British industry and society. This quickening of attention culminated in the establishment of a Committee of Inquiry on Industrial Democracy, and although since that point there has been a period of retrenchment and a decline in overt enthusiasm for schemes of this type, this in no way invalidates the importance of the wide range of experiments which were instigated in the 1960s and 1970s nor suggests that political enthusiasm in this direction will not re‐emerge with renewed vigour in the later part of this century.
Nur Farhana Azmi, Faizah Ahmad and Azlan Shah Ali
Each place possesses characteristics that confer on it a sense of place and identity through the meanings and values that they provide. The role of the physical built environment…
Abstract
Each place possesses characteristics that confer on it a sense of place and identity through the meanings and values that they provide. The role of the physical built environment in place and identity development has not received adequate attention in built environment literature. This paper attempts to identify the unique and exceptional characteristics of places which create a unique environment and make a continuing contribution to the overall sense of the place. A preliminary survey was conducted in Kuala Kubu Bharu (KKB), a small town in the northern part of the Malaysian state of Selangor; to examine the characteristics of the place that influence and contribute to the identity of the town. The survey results demonstrate that the cultural heritage of the physical built environment acts as an important trigger for the town’s identity. While it is undeniable that cultural heritage is indeed greatly the product of non-visual sources; subjective meanings, experiences, beliefs, ideology and past history of the place, this paper highlights the significance of the physical built environment in influencing the very individuality of the place.
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Scholars have widely asserted that a firm’s manufacturing technologies must be aligned with its competitive strategy. This study tests the existence of such a strategy‐technology…
Abstract
Scholars have widely asserted that a firm’s manufacturing technologies must be aligned with its competitive strategy. This study tests the existence of such a strategy‐technology “fit”, determines whether good fit results in better performance, and examines the nature of fit in light of computer controlled or “advanced manufacturing technologies”. For a sample of 399 metal machining firms, a strategy‐technology alignment was found to exist and relate to higher financial performance. Advanced manufacturing technologies were found to both reinforce and alter conventional thinking about the flexibility‐efficiency tradeoff. Specific technologies were found to be uniquely bundled or combined to support specific competitive requirements.
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The purpose of this paper is to draw attention to the range of philosophical issues that can encourage practitioners toward a reflective and meditative consideration of…
Abstract
Purpose
The purpose of this paper is to draw attention to the range of philosophical issues that can encourage practitioners toward a reflective and meditative consideration of refurbishment as a way of re‐imagining existing architecture.
Design/methodology/approach
The paper critically reviews existing architecture literature and the emerging applied ethical enquiry in the built environment.
Findings
Refurbishment projects can help achieve an extension of the economic life for many buildings. The re‐imagining of buildings is far from merely being a technical exercise. By analogously considering a building as a human, various characteristics and traits can be found – a voice, emotions and memory. The messages that are recovered from buildings need to be decoded. The ongoing applied ethical enquiry based upon the responsive cohesion model is encouraging architects to reconsider the philosophical basis of their obligations to existing buildings.
Originality/value
The paper offers an applied consideration of three linked issues that can encourage a more meditative approach to re‐imagining architecture.