Thesis (S.M.M.O.T.)--Massachusetts Institute of Technology, Sloan School of Management, Management of Technology Program, 2003. / Includes bibliographical references (leaves 78-80). / As China becomes more global, Mergers & Acquisitions (M&As), have been increasingly attracting the attention of China. This thesis investigates M&A theories and practices of valuation and integration in China on the basis of the analysis of the current trends of M&A market in both the US and China. Some related studies are reviewed to identify the research gap and applications in the Chinese context. A practical framework of using an active M&A strategy for corporate growth is presented, along with a case study. / by Jun Chen. / S.M.M.O.T.

Thesis (S.M.M.O.T.)--Massachusetts Institute of Technology, Sloan School of Management, Management of Technology Program, 2003. / Includes bibliographical references (p. 66-67). / China has placed the commercialization of science and technology innovations as one of the nation's most important long-term development strategies. In the birthplace of venture capital (VC), venture investment has been the fuel of high technology entrepreneurship development, which transformed US economy from a manufacturing- to a knowledge-based economy. By examining the formation and operation of China's venture capital (VC) industry, this study attempts to discover the role of different types of venture capital in China's technology entrepreneurship development. Four categories of venture capital operations, government funds, government leveraged funds, State Owned Enterprise (SOE) funds, and foreign funds, are identified by their sources of funding. Four venture capital operations, NewMargin, Business Incubator of Zhongguancun Haidian Science Park, Legend Capital, and IDG Technology Venture are examined as the base of analysis. The cases are chosen because they are the leading firms in their respective categories. Case studies show that the government is not only the regulator but also an active participant in China's venture capital industry. The active involvement of the government has both positive and negative impacts on the industry, venture capital funds, and entrepreneurial firms. The government's early involvement provided seeds for China's venture capital industry, but its regulations on financial market that are skewed towards the reform of state owned enterprises suffocate the growth of the venture capital industry. The case studies indicate that the bigger the government stakes in a venture capital fund, the greater the correlation between the fund's portfolio and the country's long term technological development goals. Distinctions between US and Chinese venture capital firms are also discussed. / by Juming Chen. / S.M.M.O.T.

Thesis (S.M.M.O.T.)--Massachusetts Institute of Technology, Sloan School of Management, Management of Technology Program, 2001. / Includes bibliographical references (leaves 113-116). / Knowledge Management (KM) has become a strategic business practice that is credited with providing and sustaining a firm's competitive advantage. Organizations skilled at knowledge management evaluate their core processes, capture insights of their findings, combine their skills and experiences, innovate, and apply the newly refined ideas quickly. Herein lies the competitive advantage. Organizations that excel at maximizing corporate knowledge, such as consulting firms, tend to be the ones that 1) value their employees, 2) have a culture of learning, and 3) have processes for sharing information. This thesis focuses on the KM strategies of consulting firms. In consulting, knowledge is the very cornerstone of the services a firm offers its clients. An extensive literature review, combined with interviews of a crosssection of the consulting industry, provides insight into the KM systems and organizational culture of successful firms. The knowledge gained from this research will be used in the development and implementation of a KM system at the National Aeronautics and Space Agency (NASA.). NASA is facing the possibility of losing fifty percent of its civil service workforce through retirement over the next five years. Capturing and storing technical and institutional knowledge for future use will help to assure the success and continuity of the nation's space agency. Although several areas emerge from the research as being key to the success or a firm's KM system, one theme outweighs all others - organizational culture. Information technology alone is inadequate to perform the tasks of managing a firm's knowledge. The firm must create a learning and sharing culture where personal networks and information technology combine to create an environment that maximizes corporate knowledge. In this thesis, I outline a framework, with suggested diagnostic actions, to assist managers at NASA and other organizations in the assessment of different cultural aspects most likely to affect critical knowledge-related behaviors. Using this framework will allow for more informed decisions concerning the realignment of the firm's culture to effectively support the goals for leveraging organizational knowledge. / by Sherry L. Buschmann. / S.M.M.O.T.

Thesis (S.M.M.O.T.)--Massachusetts Institute of Technology, Sloan School of Management, Management of Technology Program, 2003. / Includes bibliographical references (p. 129-131). / This electronic version was submitted by the student author. The certified thesis is available in the Institute Archives and Special Collections. / Technology-based entrepreneurship tends to cluster in certain regions. The most famous examples include Silicon Valley and the Route 128 area of Boston. The results of this study provide insight into why and how such entrepreneurial clusters have evolved to generate more entrepreneurial opportunities than others. With a proposed framework, the thesis first examines their evolutionary dynamics along with the System Dynamics models and the Silicon Valley case. The results show their self-reinforcing characteristics and the implication that those clusters won't start their self-reinforcing process easily at the beginning of the evolution. Subsequently, the thesis compares three case studies of Cambridge, Munich, and Tokyo, in addition to the case of Silicon Valley. The results show a similar pattern of a series of abnormal events in the history of each cluster that prompted the start of the self-reinforcing process. Throughout the study, the framework demonstrates its usefulness to streamline many factors involved, state the conditions of the entrepreneurial clusters, and extract the characteristics of the evolutionary dynamics of those clusters. / by Mitsuyuki Ueda. / S.M.M.O.T.

Thesis (S.M.M.O.T.)--Massachusetts Institute of Technology, Sloan School of Management, Management of Technology Program, 2004. / Includes bibliographical references (leaves 89-94). / Trust Management is a growing problem in large corporations today. In industries like financial services, firms need to comply with constantly changing regulations, security requirements and business policies. Information technology is often the backbone of the processes that are regulated by such policies. Traditionally fine-grained Trust Management has been attempted by embedding policies within business logic of silo software applications. This practice leads to high total costs of ownership, minimal interoperability, potential security vulnerabilities and low management visibility into policy specifications and enforcement, which complicates compliance challenges with regulations like Sarbanes Oxley. This thesis makes several new contributions. First, it evaluates trust-policy related applications in the overall financial services industry that can benefit from rule technologies. A second contribution is proposing SCLP RuleML, an emerging semantic web rule language, for representing trust policies (SCLP = The Situated Courteous Logic Programs knowledge representation). A third contribution is providing several financial application scenarios in SCLP that demonstrate the effectiveness of RuleML, including credit card authorizations for electronic transactions, Check 21 processing in banks and account access control in brokerage or mutual fund systems. Finally we provide a rationale and a proposal for RuleML to be a reference implementation of extensible Access Control Markup Language (XACML), an evolving OASIS standard for digital authorization. / (cont.) Potential benefits of such standardization include lower cost and more effectiveness of policy administration; better governance and coordination through centralized ownership or interoperability; and reduced system development costs over the full life cycle. / by Chitravanu Neogy. / S.M.M.O.T.

Thesis (S.M.M.O.T.)--Massachusetts Institute of Technology, Sloan School of Management, Management of Technology Program, 2004. / Includes bibliographical references (leaves 87-88). / With the dawning of the digital era, many home electronic products are emerging. One of the fastest growing and most wide-spread products in the market is the DVD player. Few digital products have achieved as fast a market penetration, and with as rapid a price drop, as the DVD player. This thesis touches on the product development strategy for my company, LG Electronics, in terms of short-range and mid (long)-range plan, specifically on means to sustain and keep the profit margin reasonable in spite of the current competitive market situation. The system dynamics tool is used as a method of analysis and assessment on the current DVD player market situation. Based on the results of the analysis, I propose the following strategies, in terms of products and technologies, for LG Electronics to maintain sustainable growth in the industry. Firstly, in terms of mid-range plan, the company should broaden its DVD product scope and make profit by adding value. Secondly, in terms of long-range plan, the company should draw a big picture for further growth by taking into account the development of new disruptive technologies and products in the industry. / by Sung Hwan Kim. / S.M.M.O.T.

Thesis (S.M.M.O.T.)--Massachusetts Institute of Technology, Sloan School of Management, Management of Technology Program, 2004. / Includes bibliographical references (leaves 102-106). / In order to survive, the steel industry has undergone traumatic changes in the last years. A thirty years old overcapacity combined with a slow growing market led to a steadily eroding profitability of steel companies, particularly in developed economies. These factors determined an industry profile delineated by a relentless quest for cost cutting and efficient operations. Regarding innovation, the approach of the steel industry has been reactive, basically following market requirements. The industry has historically found itself far from its customers businesses and has struggled to find innovative products and services that could meet an unperceived or unarticulated need so as to propose higher value and grow its market. Two important customers of the steel industry are the oil and gas and the automotive industries, two mature businesses as well. Even when changes in these two steel users have also been relatively slow, the more recent technological trends analyzed in this work suggest an upcoming faster pace of change. This thesis examines these recent technological trends in the oil and gas and automotive industries with regards to the potential impact in the steel industry. Some of the technological gaps that might be encountered in those trends are visited, in particular where substitution of lighter materials for steel is a possible avenue. Other cases where the new technological trend may affect consumption of steel are also analyzed. Following these lines, the thesis goes on analyzing the steel general approach to innovation and R&D and speculates on provocative alternatives to that approach that could put the industry in a better position for the future. / by Marco M. Tivelli. / S.M.M.O.T.

Thesis (S.M.M.O.T.)--Massachusetts Institute of Technology, Sloan School of Management, Management of Technology Program, 2001. / Includes bibliographical references (leaves 202-221). / Responsive, affordable space transportation, using reusable launch vehicles (RL Vs) to place payloads into orbit at a fraction of today's exorbitant costs, will become a reality within the next few decades. As the railroads unlocked the American West, and as the modern airplane shrank our planet, reusable launch vehicles will open space with vast scientific, commercial, humanistic, and military payoffs. The large amount of financing required for commercial RLV development coupled with significant market risk, the employment of a myriad of high-risk technologies, the lack of Federal assistance beyond early stage RLV technology development, and numerous other barriers to entry have greatly undermined successful RLV system development. Historically, the U.S. government has stepped into the fray of past transportation technology and infrastructure development with investments and funding incentives. Over the past two decades, however, the U.S. government's record in RLV development has been dismal, characterized by repeated attempts to leapfrog critical technologies rather than applying a pragmatic, stepping stone, "build a little, fly a little" approach that was so successfully utilized in experimental aircraft development a few decades before. Despite a number of failed launch vehicle development endeavors since the development of the Space Shuttle, a wave of private entrepreneurial firms are currently attempting to develop innovative reusable launch vehicle concepts independently of the U.S. government. Originally bolstered by a late 1990s bullish low Earth orbit (LEO) market, the success of these endeavors may be destined to echo that of an analogous wave of failed entrepreneurial expendable launch vehicle development efforts from a few years before, especially now that the LEO market has declined so drastically. This thesis addresses several aspects of the development of reusable launch vehicles. Demand for space launch is examined, with attention on commercial satellite trends and emerging markets. Space launch supply is assessed, with discussion of the current situation of launch vehicle over-capacity and high global competition. Several reusable and expendable launch vehicle development programs are examined, including the efforts of both small entrepreneurial ventures and large national programs. An introduction to barriers to entrepreneurial RLV development is also presented, focusing on legitimacy issues and the problems of financing such high-risk ventures. Finally, technology and market entry competitive strategies for entrepreneurial RLV ventures are discussed and recommendations offered. / by Harry Karasopoulos. / S.M.M.O.T.

Thesis (S.M.M.O.T.)--Massachusetts Institute of Technology, Sloan School of Management, Management of Technology Program, 2001. / Includes bibliographical references (leaf 78). / Several major differences in managerial philosophy and methodology can be seen between Western firms and Japanese firms nowadays. The importance of "Knowledge Management" is one example. As systematized and practiced in many Western firms, knowledge management is known as "management based on knowledge assets" and includes the skillful use of cutting-edge information technology to facilitate externalizing and sharing employees' tacit knowledge, thereby successfully increasing their intangible assets and corporate value. In spite of possessing traditional knowledge exchange systems characterized by face-to-face interactions in local communities, majority of Japanese organizations have been unaware of the significance of their knowledge assets. Today, most Japanese firms have suffered through at least ten years of extended recession, and thus have experienced a significant outflow of their knowledge as a result of cost-reduction and restructuring programs. The Japanese oil industry in which I work is one such lamentable example. Rather than focusing on a broad discussion of ideal knowledge management systems, I have focused on designing a practical knowledge sharing process for Japan Energy Corporation and its franchised dealers who run a network of more than 5,000 gas stations. Specifically, I have designed a framework of vertical-and-horizontal knowledge sharing within Japan Energy Corporation and its recently reorganized 11 retail subsidiary dealers named JOMO NETs. I discuss the issue from the perspective of the key knowledge players, design a supportive IT system, and identify other effective enablers such as a new incentive system and remodeling of routines, all focused on creating a system that will blend with the traditional Japanese organizational culture and understand the disciplines of past studies and practices, yet ultimately succeed by retaining valuable knowledge in a technologically advanced knowledge system that is accessible to all who need it. In addition, I propose a path for transforming Japan Energy's entire oil retail group into a true knowledge organization by transferring accumulated knowledge within its subsidiaries to its independent dealers as substitutes for monetary resources. This will serve to reinforce JEC's partnerships, and ultimately feed back to end consumers at gas stations to enhance the company's brand value and overall competitiveness. / by Daisuke Oka. / S.M.M.O.T.

Thesis (S.M.M.O.T.)--Massachusetts Institute of Technology, Sloan School of Management, Management of Technology Program, 2003. / Includes bibliographical references (leaves 108-110). / This electronic version was submitted by the student author. The certified thesis is available in the Institute Archives and Special Collections. / In this study, we investigate and discuss IT investment and related issues in the Japanese banking industry. And we insist that banks should take account of technology trend as one of heavy IT users and switch long-term-strategy and IT-migration-strategy appropriately in order to make the best of IT. First of all, we show some back grounds of Japanese banking industry and IT revolution. Next, we show three case studies of a Japanese bank. We will find that, over the last ten years, Japanese banks have been struggling with deregulation, the IT revolution and the long resection of the Japanese economy. These external changes have made corporate strategies and traditional information systems are obsolete and inefficient. After then, we analyze IT investment allocation issues in the banking industry. As summary of our analysis, we show some key success factors and recommendation to a Japanese bank. Finally, Japanese banks should always consider Long-Term Strategy with a long-time viewpoint; during the period of IT migration, they should find a path in which they should follow based on IT Migration Strategy. / by Tatsuya Taniai. / S.M.M.O.T.