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The purpose of the research undertaken for this thesis was to examine management practices relating to new product development processes in small to medium-sized manufacturing firms (SMEs). The thesis topic has its origins in a European Community funded research project carried out during 1997-9 and designated CIMA (Continuous Improvement in Global Innovation Management) ESPRIT project 26056. The CIMA project had as its objective the development, testing and dissemination of a methodology to support knowledge transfer in the product innovation process. The CIMA model suggested a relationship between management behaviours and performance outcomes that used literature from a variety of research areas including continuous improvement, product innovation, performance measurement, and inter-project learning. This literature was centred largely on research undertaken in large organisations, with little information available on the new product development (NPD) practices in SMEs. This thesis sought to examine the management of NPD activities in SMEs across a range of important variables as identified in larger organisations in an effort to evaluate whether they were as relevant in smaller organisations. The literature review reduced the research to four broad questions: 1.what is the relationship between a business unit’s competitive strategy and its new product development strategy, 2.how management involvement in improving NPD performance, 3.does a more systematic approach to management of NPD projects would lead to better outcomes, and finally 4.how new product development performance is measured in SMEs. A two-stage, field based research methodology was used to gather data for this thesis. Firstly, a quantitative survey instrument was used to collect data across a broad range of variables. The data thus gathered were supported by a subsequent set of interviews in three SMEs that. In each of these firms, employees from the broad functional areas of sales, operations, and design, were interviewed to gain a greater understanding of the issues that might emerge in the quantitative survey. Thematic analysis was used to examine the qualitative data. Descriptive statistics, in the main were used to evaluate the quantitative data. Findings relevant to each of the research questions provide valuable insights into NPD practices in SMEs. For instance, strategies tend to be hazy, and have a short term emphasis. The qualitative interviews in particular showed a lack of certainty and direction when it came to strategy. With regard to management involvement, there was more emphasis on individual effort rather than team-based activities. Managers tended not to look for external sources to improve their NPD performance. The approach taken in managing NPD activities, whether it was systematic or informal, did not appear to affect innovativeness, though it did appear to impact other variables such as time-to-market. Finally, performance measurement in SMEs tended to emphasise cost outcomes as opposed to variables critical to customers such as conformance quality or time-to-market. Further, outcomes in those performance dimensions did not appear to influence future strategy or actions within the organisations. A detailed review of the data is provided in chapters five, six and seven. / Doctor of Philosophy (PhD)

This research aims to suggest a means of creating a closer relationship between technological artwork and its viewers through applying 'naturalising' technology in art using the theory of Yin-Yang O-Hang. The questions are raised : 1/. What are the vital factors of technological artworks? 2/. What sorts of methods can make using technology in arts more effective? 3/. How to overcome the difficulties in getting an intimate relationship between viewers and technological artworks? In order to optimise the aesthetic use of technology in art, the research is thus focused on 'naturalising' technology as a possible solution to overcome the negative aspects of technological artworks through the application of the theory of Yin-Yang O-Hang.Throughout this research, the author has discussed the fundamental concerns of the theory and its applications in Western and Eastern art. Furthermore, in investigating a number of artworks, the trends have been explored in technological art which are compatible with nature and humanity. The author has tried to find a way of applying the theory of Yin-Yang O-Hang to make technological art more intimate and accessible to viewers / Master of Arts (Hons)

The fast pace of development in the Mobile Data Services area means innovators have to remain vigilant to stay in the market. There is not time to undertake the usual market development cycles. As a consequence, researchers are looking at various ways to predict the adoption rate of a new product and ways to better forecast adoption in different niche contexts. Rogers’ (2003) provides a review of historical trends in innovation and diffusion studies, and the foundational (1962) model he developed. In the context of the most recent literature, it is found that Rogers’ generic model still works well, but variations built on his model need to be considered. In particular, the ‘Chasm’ model, developed by Moore (1999), adapts Rogers’s model to cope well with the 21st century business environment. Gilbert (2005) has taken the work of both Rogers and Moore and applied the learning to research into adoption rates and characteristics in cross-cultural situations. In New Zealand the past consumer behaviour when new mobile services have been introduced has shown a number of characteristics and specific problems. Vodafone New Zealand provides mobile services only and they now claim 54% market share (Vodafone 2005`). An early success was to significantly lower the cost of sending text messages (SMS), followed by promotion of that service to the teenage market sector. In contrast to the popularity of SMS, introduction of the WAP mobile Internet protocol was not successful in New Zealand, as was the case elsewhere. The failure is commonly attributed to a lack of services being offered to use the technology. Near the end of 2004 Telecom New Zealand launched a new product, branded ‘T3G’. Vodafone New Zealand released ‘Vodafone 3G’ during the middle of 2005. The technologies behind these products is generally called ‘3G Mobile’, or Third Generation Mobile technology. Operators in Singapore also have 3G networks, commissioned during 2004. Authors such as Salz et el (2004) find evidence to suggest that US network operators need to speed up the adoption of this technology to meet predicted demand. There are unique factors likely to affect in the New Zealand market. The OECD has repeatedly found evidence that broadband Internet adoption in New Zealand is lower than other countries. Introduction of 3G technology provides another way to access broadband Internet. The OECD indicates that pricing is one of the barriers to broadband adoption. Telephone companies will have to consider pricing 3G to appeal as an option to having a fixed Internet option. The key question to be addressed in this research is: Do the adoption intensions of New Zealanders match those of Malaysia and Singapore for expected data services use? A related question is: What other factors effect New Zealand's current relatively slow rate of adoption? Product positioning of mobile data products is going to become more critical, given that some telephone operators are ‘expecting to get 25% of revenues from mobile data within five years’ (Molony, 2001). This Thesis will provide information to assist Mobile Service Providers to predict adoption rates of new services. It will also provide a comparative reference for researchers in other countries to replicate the study, and contribute to an exciting body of international literature. The New Zealand market is characterised by high cost of broadband Internet in general (OECD, TUANZ, and others), proprietary knowledge capture, and regulation, but these issues do not stop research into the intensions of potential adopters. This thesis will fill part of that research void, by comparing emergent demand for mobile data with existing models, which have previously been used, to predict future demand. New Zealand has a reputation as an earlier adopter of new technologies (Min Economic Dev & others). This thesis will contribute evidence to indicate how New Zealanders plan to adopt mobile data services, and how intensions of adoption compare with parallel studies in Singapore, and other countries.

This research is an investigation into how organisations can engineer new collaborative business processes. This engineering of processes is based on technical advances, which enables organisations to enhance their communication and collaboration with their customer and each other. This research identifies how advanced technologies can be properly applied to create collaborative business processes of within and across organisations. This research has enabled this collaboration and extended its boundaries to facilitate dynamic collaborations amongst multiple organisations that may not necessarily be known to each other. The new model of collaboration achieves the recommended collaborative environment by restructuring the business processes for Web-based applications. This thesis also validates the proposed model for the collaboration in a global environment. This creation and validation of the model satisfies the requirements of a PhD-level research. The concept of Collaborative Business Process Engineering (CBPE) is unique in that it describes how cluster-based processes of multiple organisations can be engineered. Furthermore, this research also integrates the existing concepts of Business Process Re-engineering (BPR) and Business Process Management (BPM) in the model. CPBE is able to evaluate the impact of the interoperability of the organisations on their engineered business processes as well as their business structures. This research further demonstrates the implementation of CBPE in a proposed Collaborative Web-Based System (CWBS). This thesis discusses how the Web Services (WS) and mobile technologies, specifically Universal Description, Discovery and Integration (UDDI), influence the interoperation amongst multiple organisations. The impact of the WS on engineered business processes and the extension of this impact on multiple organisations and their clusters are included in this research. This thesis also describes the existing model of collaboration and provides a literature review to support the need for the proposed model of collaboration. Existing technologies for the engineering of the new collaborative business processes are explained. Detailed descriptions of the research methodologies (quantitative and qualitative), philosophies (interpretivist and constructivist) and theories (evolutionary and socio-technical) used are identified and described here. The dynamic aspects of collaboration in the proposed new model of collaboration, wherein organisations can enter and exit the collaboration at will are discussed. The thesis also discusses the factors influencing the collaboration, such as trust, security, confidence level and the availability of the channels for collaboration. The dynamic aspects of the proposed model are tested against the static aspects of the current model wherein the collaborating organisations need to set up prior contract before collaboration. A part of this study deals with evaluation of the significance of the CBPE for the organisations that adapt technologies such as Web Service and mobility. Finally, this thesis demonstrates an investigation in the impact of interoperability emanating from emerging technologies, specifically the Web Services technology, on organisations by providing a model as well as conceptual implementations. The proposed model of CBPE and the conceptual implementations facilitate the use of the emerging technologies for effective collaborations. These emerging technologies are presented and described in Chapter 2 while their impacts on the proposed model of CBPE are explained in Chapter 4. The proposed model in this thesis enables numerous businesses to collaborate electronically thereby producing dynamically collaborating groups/clusters. This thesis presents the modelling, understanding of collaborative business process that transcend the organisational boundaries, factors that influence collaborative business processes and the entry and exit criteria for these collaborative organisations. / Doctor of Philosophy (PhD)

Australia's space activities since the early sixties have been science-oriented and uncoordinated. As a result, Australia has been unable to develop a long-term sustainable domestic technological capability; with industry being dependent on government funding for its involvement in the nation's space plan. This thesis examines public policy aspects focussing on technology independence that is the building of competencies for the sustainable development of an industry. It compares national technological development by relating Australia's recent space-related successes and failures to those of other nations (especially selected Asian countries and Israel). The overarching research problem addressed within this thesis examined the Australian national space policy and strategy since 1984.It investigated why the Australian Space Industry Development Strategy was not a successful influence on the development of a long-term sustainable national technological base or on the establishment of a viable commercial space-related industry in Australia. The research included the development of a strategic multilevel planning system involving a network innovation model into a nation's space science and technology policy development. The outcomes of the research reported in the thesis are discussed. The level of technological capability and capacity is a direct, inversely related factor to an increase in the degree in technology dependency. Australia needs a change of philosophy by accepting the global challenge through defining and supporting, within a national strategic planning, a national space strategy that incorporates network innovation concepts: a concept that must involve a balanced supply (science) and demand (commercial) characteristics of an innovation network system. / Doctor of Philosophy (PhD) (Management)

The study of technological innovation covers a broad range of issues. Everything, from the public funding of science, research policy to the role of universities, from the business development of new products and services, the financing of innovation, institutional arrangements through to the spatially located conditions that promote innovation has been considered by analysts. Mostly these subject matters have been conceptualised as components of 'national’ systems of innovation even when studied at different spatial levels (including regions and clusters). The emphasis of systems research is that places (nations or localities), within the global economic landscape, are especially important for the creation, spread and use of innovations. The systems perspective on innovation encourages, due to results on the development of endogenous capabilities and the proximity of knowledge spillovers, a view that production and innovation geographies are enclaves of activity, innovating largely in isolation from what is occurring in other technologically isolated systems. A central concern in the present thesis is that this view of national and sub-national systems does not provide a sufficiently comprehensive perspective on the global architecture of production. The primary goal is to begin to develop an innovation systems framework that combines the consideration of the advantages of individual spatial entities (clusters) with an analysis of value chains as they extend across regional and national borders. To achieve this, the analysis focuses on evaluating the role, scale and spatial structure of inter-cluster linkages. The literature on role of interdependencies within clusters suggests that user producer and tacit knowledge flows are more important for innovation than traded interdependencies. To aid the analysis of the scale and spatial structure of interdependencies and rather than be restricted by case studies methods which would facilitate analysis of only one or two clusters, two inter-country input-output datasets covering nine OECD countries (33 sectors) and fifteen European Union countries (25 sectors) were developed for the research project. To analyse these datasets in a manner that was consistent with the goals of the research new modelling software was constructed. The analysis of these spatial structures reveals that substantial associations exist between some clusters, with most national clusters maintaining one important connection. The analysis reveals differences in the global architecture of production for assembly based systems (motor vehicles and aerospace) when compared to modular component based systems such as electronics and computing. Just as businesses form networks, then it seems reasonable, on the basis of the research presented here, to suggest that global production consists of networks of clusters which are organised in hierarchical circuits. This evidence supports the argument developed through the present thesis that certain elements of innovation systems can be better understood through a crossborder cluster-to-cluster framework / Doctor of Philosophy (PhD)

This study examines models for the introduction of technological literacy in technology education in primary schools in Queensland. The study focused on the use of a model derived from one by Morgan (1994a) called The Practitioner's Model of Technological Literacy. The study also examined the development and implementation of a teacher inservice package and student resource material which primary school teachers could utilise to implement a technology based teaching curriculum in their classrooms. Morgan's Practitioner's Model of Technological Literacy was conceptualised through a number of principals listed as: Technical, conceptual, personal, and social. These are defined in the following manner for each dimension. Technical; is comprised of technical capability and proficiency, the utilisation of technology (or design) process, and being at ease with established and emerging technologies. The conceptual dimension is defined as an understanding of the nature of technology, its diversity of meanings and applications in our society; understanding how things work and how solutions can be generated as well as the capacity to judge the adequacy of propositions and solutions given an understanding of the developmental nature of technology. The social aspect of the model encompasses a sensitivity to the dependency of society upon technological solutions and an awareness of the influence of technology upon a democratic society. Finally the personal dimension is bounded by a critical capacity to assess the appropriateness of technology in a variety of settings along with a sense of empowerment to innovate, confront and appreciate the value dependent nature of technology in a world view that it integrated against a background of sustainability. (Morgan, June 1994: 8). This study combines the notion of technological literacy with current Education Queensland policies. These include policies on Active and Informed Citizenship and the principles of Effective Learning and Teaching. The case study approach of this thesis examined seven units of technology curriculum (each labeled at site) and how the units of work were implemented. It detailed the progress made during each unit and allowed for student and parent feedback to triangulate data that was collected. The methodology enabled multiple data gathering techniques to be employed during the study. Many interactions between students and teachers, teacher and class and researcher as participant observer were captured in each site at some time during the course of the study. The confirmation of practice occurred through the data triangulation between researcher and teacher, researcher and students and researcher and parents. Each facet of the phased study provided a broader and more comprehensive picture than if singular researcher observations had been recorded. The study involved three phases. Each phase of the study provided professional development in technology education for the teachers in the study which was then applied in the writing of technology curriculum teaching units and enacted within the classrooms of each site. The results were analysed according to the methodology outlined. At the outset of this study few teachers had any prior experience in technology education and none had encountered the term technological literacy. The results of the project were positive in that teachers with little or no prior knowledge of technological literacy, the concepts it embodied and the principles which underpinned the model all progressed to varying degrees along a continuum of heightened awareness, The new knowledge gained by the teachers was then actioned into teaching and learning programs that were evaluated. During the technology curriculum teaching units students did produce artefacts as an outcome of the technology education process they had undertaken. A constructivist approach was actively encouraged and this method assisted teachers and students in looking for new and multiple ways of solving design briefs. For the most part teachers were surprised at the high quality of solutions and depth of problem solving and interaction students produced during and after the technology curriculum unit. The study suggests that despite the difficulties of introducing technology education programs in primary schooling, it is possible to do so. The key features for successful implementation would seem to be an understanding of the process for implementing such a curriculum program in a classroom. The teachers confidence to engage in problem solving that may lead to a student engaging in learning activities that are beyond their current knowledge base grew during the study. Being willing to allow students to 'take risks' in order to arrive at alternate solutions. To provide for multiple solutions and be confident in providing guidance. The teachers in each of the sites each noted their changing roles, to be a facilitator of learning rather than the knowledge holder. Constructivist teaching using this model has shown that students alter their approach to learning and become active investigators who seek solutions to real work problems as active participants. Given the recent publication of a Syllabus for Technology 1 to 10 in Queensland, (Queensland School Curriculum Council, August 2001) and the upcoming implementation of the syllabus and support documents in 2003 it is timely that this study should look at methods of promoting an awareness of the principles that informed this document.

The dissolution profile of orally delivered drugs can be controlled through the use of osmotically controlled drug delivery devices. The most commonly used device is the osmotic tablet, which is essentially a tablet core that is coated with a rate-limiting semipermeable membrane. The feasibility of applying a coating onto a tablet using dense gas techniques was studied. Two different coating materials, polymethymethacrylate (PMMA, Mw = 120,000 g/mol) and cellulose acetate (CA, 39.8 wt% acetyl content) were applied onto an 8 mm osmotic tablet core using the Gas Anti-solvent (GAS) process. For PMMA, the pressurisation rate, coating temperature and volumetric expansion of up to 250% had minimal effect on the coating quality. The concentration, solvent type and the use of polyethylene glycol (Mw = 200 g/mol) had a more pronounced effect on the coating. The coating process was optimised to apply a smooth and uniform coating with a 50 ??m thickness. For CA, the pressurisation rate and the coating temperature had little effect on the coating that was applied. The process was more sensitive to a change in the concentration of the solution and the volumetric expansion that was used. It was found that the concentration could not be increased too much without affecting the coating quality. A CA coating was applied onto a PMMA-coated tablet using the optimised conditions. The thickness in the tablet coating increased by 10 ??m. Dissolution tests of the uncoated and coated tablets were carried out. The CA coatings were found to be insufficient in limiting the rate of water entering the tablet and performed similarly to an uncoated tablet core. The PMMA coatings were found to limit the rate of delivery of the model drug. However, variations in the PMMA coatings resulted in an inconsistent delivery profile across batches. The tablets coated with both PMMA and CA had a delivery rate in between that of uncoated and PMMA-coated tablets, indicating that the application of the second coating had compromised the initial PMMA coating.