Thesis (doctoral)--Universität der Bundeswehr, 2007. / Includes bibliographical references (p. 239-253).

Not available / text

High-technology and information technology industries represent a growing component of 'new economy' sector activities. Cities around the world often perceive these industrial and commercial activities to be high-growth in nature, bringing economic advantages and benefits to the cities where they are situated within. Concentration of hightechnology and information technology economic activity in cities has resulted in the formation of localstrategies and related policy initiatives aimed at attracting these sector industries into designated areas. Initial problems that ensued revolved around questioning the legitimacy, effectiveness and appropriateness of implementing these policy initiatives, which were characteristic of 'induced' development. Impacts on broader issues regarding the city's space-economy and structure were often not taken into account in these implemented high-technology led strategies and policies. This thesis responds to these problems by addressing the planning imperatives of initiating high-technology sector led development in urban environments. False Creek Flats was the primary case study examined in this thesis. Due to the proximity of the False Creek Flats site to Vancouver's metropolitan core, a research concentration on the inner-city is carried throughout the thesis. The research objectives and question are aimed at examining challenges posed to planning by following a particular policy and city initiated development path for high-technology sector concentration in False Creek Flats. Objectives are focused around the purpose of conducting a policy analysis on the process and initiatives for high-technology policy formation that occurred over the past decade in False Creek Flats. The research methodology consisted of gathering relevant and informing data and theories through an academic literature review. Information derived from editorial sources was also utilized to situate issues directly related to the primary case study. City of Vancouver policies, documents and sources represented a majority of the primary sources pertaining to the policy analysis of the high-technology framework for False Creek Flats. An internship conducted with the City of Vancouver Central Area Planning Division contributed to gaining access to information and planning perspective on the Flats high-technology led strategy. The stated imperatives to planning are based on False Creek Flats high-technology led strategy's classification as a primarily induced development. Imperatives exhibited in the policy framework formation and details are the importance of the proactive and assertive stance taken by the City of Vancouver and Planning Department. Flexibility, evolution and innovation to formulate new planning responses to deal with the problems and opportunities of implementing high-technology initiatives in the Flats were found to be essential. Planning implications for this case study include the ability to examine the issues from a broader perspective to take into account ramifications on existing city policy, structure and function. These planning elements are going to be critical in maintaining the original guiding principles, vision and goals for high-technology sector concentration in False Creek Flats.

This study investigates the impacts of regional characteristics on the early-stage performance of New Technology-Based Firms (NTBFs) in catch-up regions where a mature industrial cluster has yet to be formed. It hypothesized that the average NTBF performance in a region is a function of its scientist job market conditions, cultural diversity, venture capital, academic research, industrial structure, and local entrepreneurial climate. Using the events of Initial Public Offerings (IPO) and Merger & Acquisitions (M&A) as an indicator of early-stage success of NTBFs, this study constructs a set of Zero-Inflated-Negative-Binomial (ZINB) models to predict the spatial distribution of such events in the U.S. biopharmaceutical and Information Technology (IT) service industries during the period from 1996 to 2005. Several empirical findings emerge from this study. First, the local entrepreneurial climate plays a significant and positive role on NTBF performance in both industries. Second, the positive impact of cultural diversity is more significant in the IT service industry than in the biopharmaceutical industry. Third, the scientist job market size and absolute salary level have positive impacts on NTBF performance, but the effect of relative salary level is negative. Fourth, proximity to venture capital firms has positive but non-linear effects, but the adverse effect of excess venture capital is stronger in the IT service industry. Fifth, there is little evidence of the direct effects of academic research in determining the NTBF performance in both industries. Finally, industrial specialization is significant and positive only in the IT service industry. The results suggest that promoting local entrepreneurial climate and cultural diversity are two effective policy instruments for catch-up regions to foster their NTBF growth.

This study aims to elucidate firm and performance attributes of a population of small, elite firms that assume prominent positions in their respective technological spaces and product markets. More specifically, this study addresses the role and impact of industrial agglomeration on the location and performance characteristics of serial innovator firms. The dissertation was conceived as a collection of three distinct but related essays. The first essay on the geographical location of firms with high levels of innovative prowess i.e. serial innovator firms vis-à-vis technology clusters and research universities indicates that these firms are not necessarily located in Metropolitan Statistical Areas (MSA) with higher average levels of industry clustering than non-serial innovator firms of similar size. Serial innovator firms and their less innovative counterparts appear to have the same need and capacity to absorb knowledge spillovers in technology clusters. Further analysis, however, revealed that serial innovator firms in the Pharmaceutical & Biotechnology and IT hardware industries are located in MSA's with significantly higher levels of regional specialization than non-serial innovator firms in that industry which suggests an asymmetric need for knowledge spillovers by these firms. Furthermore, serial innovator firms seem to be located in MSA's with a significantly higher number of research universities than a non-serial innovator firm although differences across industries can be noted. This again indicates an asymmetric use and need for academic knowledge spillovers and pecuniary advantages offered by these institutions. The analysis in the second essay reveals that serial innovator firms located in MSAs (Metropolitan Statistical Areas) with elevated levels of industrial clustering announce significantly more new products than their counterparts located in MSA areas with low levels of industrial clustering. However, no differences in the pace of technological progress of the technologies developed by serial innovator firms located in technology clusters and those outside of clusters was found. Finally, the research reported in the third essay indicates that the level of industrial agglomeration has a positive impact on the export performance of serial innovator firms and that these firms benefit proportionately more from technology clusters than non-serial innovator firms.

Thesis (Ph. D.)--University of Hawaii at Manoa, 1994. / Includes bibliographical references (leaves 375-391). / Microfiche. / 2 v. (xix, 391 leaves, bound) ill. 29 cm

In the current literature on productivity and economic growth, many studies have explored the relationship between information and communications technology (ICT) and growth. In these studies, ICT capital stock is treated as an individual input in the production process that contributes to output growth. In fact, ICT is found to be a key driver of productivity growth in the developed economies. However, few empirical studies deal with China which has in recent years become one of the world's largest ICT markets and production centres. The lack of empirical work in this field contrasts sharply with the wealth of literature which presents background and descriptive studies of China's high technology sectors that include the telecommunications, the computer and the Internet sectors. This dissertation attempts to fill the void in the literature by examining the role of ICT in China's economy over the past two decades. It aims to develop a framework which emphasizes ICT as a production factor and apply it to interpret China's economic growth. The dissertation contributes to the empirical literature by focusing on the following core aspects underlying the linkage between ICT and economic growth. First, it attempts to estimate the size of China's ICT capital stock using the perpetual inventory method. Second, based on such estimates, the dissertation measures the contribution of ICT to China's economic growth by means of a production function model that segregates ICT from all other forms of capital. Third, the dissertation examines the impact of ICT on technical efficiency in China's regions by applying a stochastic frontier model. Lastly, the dissertation looks at the demand aspect of the ICT industry by estimating and projecting demand for ICT services, namely, the telecommunications and computer markets in China. According to this study, ICT capital is found to be a positive driver for the Chinese economy, and is responsible for about 25% of the country's economic growth, although the percentage varies at different periods. ICT capital is also found to have a positive and significant impact on technical efficiency in the Chinese regions. However, the disparity between the coastal and inland regions in terms of technical efficiency scores is found to be very wide, due to the bulk of ICT investment going into the municipal cities and coastal provinces. It is also found that China may be facing the beginning of a period of strong productivity growth driven by increased investment in ICT, especially innovative investment. Furthermore, projections of demand show that the majority of Chinese citizens will have access to a fixed-line telephone or the mobile phone in five years from now, while about half of the Chinese population is expected to use the computer by 2010.

Originally presented as the author's thesis: Universität zu Kiel, 2007. / Includes bibliographical references.

Thesis (M. S.)--International Affairs, Georgia Institute of Technology, 2008. / Committee Chair: Breznitz, Dan; Committee Member: Bowman, Kirk; Committee Member: Taylor, Zak.

Capes / O objetivo desse trabalho é identificar a percepção dos gestores sobre as concepções de tecnologia presentes nas indústrias de baixa, média-baixa e média-alta tecnologia. Este é um estudo de campo sobre uma análise sociotécnica que se realizou em ambientes produtivos. A coleta de dados foi realizada para determinar as concepções de tecnologia encontradas na indústria brasileira, por meio de um questionário. Para a aplicação final utilizou-se dos segmentos de baixa, média-baixa e média-alta tecnologia. Na aplicação do instrumento, foram recolhidos 84 questionários, dos quais 80 validados. Com relação ao nível de tecnologia da indústria, 67,50% estão inseridos nas indústrias de média-baixa tecnologia, 12,50% dos respondentes estão nas indústrias de baixa tecnologia, e, 20% dos respondentes estão em indústrias de média-alta tecnologia. O α de Cronbach total do instrumento nessa amostra é satisfatório, tendo em vista que resultado foi de 0,780. Executou-se a Análise discriminante e o teste Anova, considerando-se ρ-valor<0,05 para que tenha diferença significativa entre, no mínimo, um dos grupos. Para a análise realizada entre os construtos do teste encontrou-se ρ-valor≤0,001, ou seja, existe diferença entre as médias de pelo menos um dos construtos. Portanto, o questionário é válido por não avaliar os mesmos pontos em diferentes construtos. Tornou-se possível em uma avaliação mais aprofundada identificar a percepção dos gestores sobre de inovação tecnológica industrial. Para tal, foi levado em consideração os testes obtidos das respostas que apontam que para sua maioria a percepção é que a tecnologia auxilia no desenvolvimento do seu trabalho. As concepções mais importantes foram apropriação tecnológica e a concepção utilitarista de tecnologia. / The objective of this work is to identify the managers' perception about the technology conceptions present in the low, medium-low and medium-high technology industries. This study is about sociotechnical analysis that was carried out in productive environments. The data collection was carried out to determine the profile of the workers regarding the conceptions of technology found in the industry. For the final application that aimed to identify the managers' perception about the technology conceptions present in the industries, the low, medium-low and medium-high technology segments were used. In the application of the instrument, 84 questionnaires were collected, of which 80 were validated. Regarding the technology level 67.50% are inserted in the medium-low-tech industries 12.50% of respondents from low-tech industries and from medium-high technology industries 20% of respondents were registered. The total Cronbach's α of the instrument in this sample is satisfactory, considering that result was 0.780. Discriminant analysis and the Anova test were performed, considering ρ-value <0.05 to have a significant difference between at least one of the groups. For the analysis performed between the constructs of the test was found ρ-value≤0.001, that is, there is a difference between the means of at least one of the constructs. Therefore, the questionnaire is valid because it does not evaluate the same points in different constructs. It became possible in a more in-depth assessment to identify the managers' perception of industrial technological innovation. To do so, we took into account the tests obtained from the answers that point out that for the most part the perception is that the technology assists in the development of their work. It was obtained that the most important conceptions were technological appropriation and the utilitarian conception of technology.