Thesis--Köln. / Vita. Includes bibliographical references (p. 125-128).

Thesis (Ph. D.)--Ohio State University, 1987. / Includes vita. Includes bibliographical references (leaves 183-185). Available online via OhioLINK's ETD Center.

This thesis investigates decision-making activities leading to the initial selection of which new ideas should be selected for further development or rejected. This process, often referred to as idea screening, is described as being one of the most important, but also challenging, tasks to master during the entire innovation process. There are two main reasons for this: Firstly, not all ideas are good and secondly no firm has the resources to develop every single idea proposed to it. Thus, it is important to be careful when initially deciding which ideas are to be selected and developed into future possible innovations in order to eliminate weak ideas and retain those that have a substantial chance of becoming successful.  Two alternative decision-making approaches are explored in the thesis (the intuitive and rational approaches). In the thesis, the concept of intuition during the screening of product and service ideas is demystified. The empirical findings show that decision-makers utilize five main underlying criteria when intuitively assessing ideas. Of these, the findings indicate user-value to be the most important one, or at least the criterion that most assessors emphasize when making intuitive decisions. The findings presented in the thesis increase our understanding of the use of rational and holistic intuitive decision-making when screening ideas during the Front End Innovation phase, as well as questioning the traditional view of intuition, as a decision-making tool that is only reliable if applied by those with a vast amount of experience and expertise. The reported findings indicate that, for example, users with an understanding of the idea context are able to intuitively identify the ideas that decision-making experts identify as the top (best) ones. Hence, managers faced with a situation where they are being inundated with new ideas can turn to non-experts for help. / This thesis explores and investigates two alternative decision-making approaches (the intuitive and the rational approaches) used when screening ideas during the initial part of the innovation process. In this thesis, the concept of intuition when screening product and service ideas is demystified. The empirical findings show that decision-makers utilize five main underlying criteria when making intuitive assessments of ideas. Of these, the findings indicate that user-value is the most important one, or at least the single criterion that most assessors emphasize when making an intuitive decision. The findings presented in the thesis increase our understanding of the use of rational and holistic intuitive decision-making when screening ideas during the Front End Innovation phase, as well as questioning the traditional view of intuition, as a decision-making tool that is only reliable if applied by those with a vast amount of experience and expertise. The reported findings indicate that, for example, users with an understanding of the idea context are able to intuitively identify the ideas that decision-making experts identify as the top (best) ones. Hence, managers faced with a situation where they are being inundated with new ideas can turn to non-experts for help.

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Friedrich Nietzsche thought that philosophers were deeply mistaken about the nature and sources of philosophical activity. Where others took themselves to be motivated by a desire to know the truth, Nietzsche charged that his fellow philosophers, motivated by a pathological set of psychological and physiological characteristics, did little more than sublimate and rationalize their own prejudices. In this thesis, I sketch out in further detail and defend the plausibility and significance of this Nietzschean diagnosis of philosophers. I argue that since Nietzsche’s view of philosophers both offers a compelling explanation of some phenomena in contemporary philosophical practice and, were it true, would have significant upshot for how and even whether philosophy should be practiced, we philosophers ought to begin taking it seriously.

Made available in DSpace on 2016-04-29T14:23:01Z (GMT). No. of bitstreams: 1 Jaderson Aparecido de Souza.pdf: 44357388 bytes, checksum: 02173ac48fd79c1048c84e4e39f73038 (MD5) Previous issue date: 2011-08-29 / This study addresses the issue of the production of games and its scope as objects of knowledge and learning. Part of the current discussion is about theoretical elements of the games from the ontologically pragmatic assumptions of the metaphilosophy and of the general ontology of the metaverses and games. Methodologically, the production of a game is conceived as the production of a cultural and cognitive object which is organized according to the principles of the narrative designs, three-dimentional environments and characters integrated in the current cultural movement of the digital natives. It is discussed the relation among the methodological assumptions of the approach of the new technologies, the narratology and playful and the current educational reflections that take the games as cognitive objects. It approaches the production contexts of a game, focusing the hypermedia research areas which show the games as cultural agents that promote the human creativity and freedom in the digital era, its relevance as playfulness sense producer and as horizons of knowledge production. It resumes the discussion of the use of games in the educational process confronting them with the entertainment issues and the scientific research that uses the new technologies. It locates and delineates the methodological parameters and conceptual limits for the production of a game which has concepts as objects. It proposes the normative structure of a game design document, its parameter and its development in a high fidelity digital phototype. It culminates in the perspective of the games complexities as digital and cultural objects that locates in the horizons among art, ethics and science, fundamental to the development of the postmodern culture / conhecimento e de aprendizagem. Parte da discussão atual acerca dos fundamentos teóricos dos games, a partir dos pressupostos ontopragmáticos da topofilosofia e da ontologia geral dos metaversos e games. Metodologicamente, concebe a produção de um game como a produção de um objeto cultural e cognitivo que se organiza segundo princípios do design de narrativas, ambientes tridimensionais e personagens, integrados no movimento cultural atual dos nativos digitais. Discute a relação entre os pressupostos metodológicos da abordagem das novas tecnologias, com o binômio narratologia-ludologia e com as atuais reflexões educacionais que tomam os games como objetos cognitivos. Aborda os contextos de produção de um game, enfocando as pesquisas da área hipermídia, que mostram os games como agentes culturais que promovem a criatividade e liberdade humanas na era digital, a sua pertinência como ludicidade produtora de sentidos e como horizonte de produção de conhecimento. Retoma o debate do uso dos games nos processos educativos confrontando-os com as questões do entretenimento e da pesquisa científica que utiliza as novas tecnologias. Situa e delineia os parâmetros metodológicos e limites conceituais para a produção de um game que tenha por objeto conceitos. Propõe a estrutura normativa de um game design document, sua parametrização e seu desenvolvimento em um protótipo digital de alta fidelidade. Culmina na perspectiva da complexidade dos games como objetos digitais e culturais que se situam no horizonte entre arte, ética e ciência, fundamentais para o desenvolvimento da cultura pós-moderna

There are three central orientations, or modes, forming a “tripod” as it were, that grounds philosophy as a cultural activity. The two commonly known modes are, first philosophical geniuses who make models of reality in their “solitary burrows” (such as a Kant and Peirce); and, second, philosophical wanderers who have an embodied praxis, performing wisdom wherever they travel (such as Diogenes of Sinope and Takuan Soho). There is however another primary and largely neglected mode of philosophy which is mutually reinforced ethical praxis rooting in a shared cosmopolitan place. In this dissertation, I characterize and defend the neglected mode of philosophy, that I call “philosophical community,” by describing the constellation of metaethical principles — general, axiological, cultural, and dialectical — that articulate and promote its values. My philosophical methodology is radically empirical philosophy of culture. The principles will be drawn from an interpretation of the whole of philosophical communal experience, considered diachronically, or globally and historically. These principles are then organized as a synchronic (present focused) coordinate whole. By “principle,” at the very least, I mean a hypothetical ground presupposed in successful inquiry. I take “community” in the broad, Roycean spirit of those relationships that build an increasing determinacy of meaning in the universe, (i.e. a community of interpretation). A philosophical community, then, is not reducible to a collection of people but can be thought of as made of a special kind of community of interpretation, as it shares some sort of place. Taken together, this constellation of principles can help us refine for ourselves a vision of the best of philosophical community life, which should also help us frame a new “brocard” for this mode of philosophy in the twenty-first century.

<p>Abstract</p><p>Entrepreneurship has become an important issue in the modern society where the business landscape consists of many small and medium sized firms. These firms have all been started by an entrepreneur who has identified and business idea and developed that idea into a new venture. We therefore see the idea identification and idea development process as a central part of the creation of a new firm.</p><p>A concept that has become popular in the discussion about entrepreneurship is the cluster concept and dynamic business settings. These concepts are based on the fact that in some geographical regions more firms are started than in other geographical locations. These firms are often started in the same field or industry which has lead to theories that the environment supports and stimulates entrepreneurship. The studies about clusters have often been conducted with an organizational perspective and studied formal contacts within clusters. Therefore we in this study want to study how cluster environments support entrepreneurs in their idea identification and idea development process with the perspective of the individual entrepreneur.</p><p>The study is based on a theoretical framework built around the cluster theories develop by Michael Porter who is considered to be the father to this concept. In addition to this we also present theories about the importance of untraded interdependencies, the triple helix, spin-offs and entrepreneurs as organizational products.</p><p>The empirical material for this study has been collected through interviews with five entrepreneurs in Sweden’s famous ICT cluster Kista Science City just outside Stockholm. These interviews are later presented as five individual cases which describe the idea identification and development process. The results from these interview shows that the cluster environment can support the entrepreneurs in several ways. The support we have found in this study could be linked to the existence of untraded interdependencies that provided the entrepreneurs with access to information, knowledge and experts through networks. These factors were useful both in the idea identification and the idea development process.</p>

Abstract Entrepreneurship has become an important issue in the modern society where the business landscape consists of many small and medium sized firms. These firms have all been started by an entrepreneur who has identified and business idea and developed that idea into a new venture. We therefore see the idea identification and idea development process as a central part of the creation of a new firm. A concept that has become popular in the discussion about entrepreneurship is the cluster concept and dynamic business settings. These concepts are based on the fact that in some geographical regions more firms are started than in other geographical locations. These firms are often started in the same field or industry which has lead to theories that the environment supports and stimulates entrepreneurship. The studies about clusters have often been conducted with an organizational perspective and studied formal contacts within clusters. Therefore we in this study want to study how cluster environments support entrepreneurs in their idea identification and idea development process with the perspective of the individual entrepreneur. The study is based on a theoretical framework built around the cluster theories develop by Michael Porter who is considered to be the father to this concept. In addition to this we also present theories about the importance of untraded interdependencies, the triple helix, spin-offs and entrepreneurs as organizational products. The empirical material for this study has been collected through interviews with five entrepreneurs in Sweden’s famous ICT cluster Kista Science City just outside Stockholm. These interviews are later presented as five individual cases which describe the idea identification and development process. The results from these interview shows that the cluster environment can support the entrepreneurs in several ways. The support we have found in this study could be linked to the existence of untraded interdependencies that provided the entrepreneurs with access to information, knowledge and experts through networks. These factors were useful both in the idea identification and the idea development process.

Nuestro proyecto busca desarrollar una idea de negocio a partir de un problema que hemos detectado en la sociedad actual. Este proyecto se divide en dos etapas; la primera narrará la búsqueda y validación del problema en cuestión y la segunda se concentrará en el desarrollo de la idea de negocio. Sabemos que en la actualidad, aún existen muchos tabúes acerca de la sexualidad que aún no son normalizados, es por ello que aún existe el sentimiento de vergüenza al comprar productos sexuales en tiendas físicas. Es así que, My Sextery Box se crea para poder confrontar estos tabúes y promover experiencias sexuales divertidas, seguras y distintas. En la primera etapa, se realizaron entrevistas al público objetivo y expertos en el tema, para poder obtener información acerca del problema. Es así que, se entrevistaron a una sexóloga, ginecóloga, urólogo, trabajador del Ministerio de Salud y un vendedor de una sex shop. En la segunda etapa, se determinaron los pasos a seguir para desarrollar una empresa a partir de una idea de negocio. Dentro del análisis desarrollado, se destaca la importancia de las operaciones y marketing implementado. Nuestro diferencial es el factor sorpresa y personalización del kit. Las proyecciones indican bajo una tasa de descuento de 15.56%, lograremos un VAN de S/. 8,964.68 soles, con una tasa interna de retorno de 35.7% en un periodo de recupero de la inversión de 2.88 años. Con estos números nuestro proyecto representa una gran oportunidad de inversión. / Our project has as main objective to develop a business idea based on a current problem in our society. This project is splitted in two stages; the first will narrate the research and validation of the problem and the second one will focus on the development of the business idea. We know that nowadays, there are still many taboos about sexuality that are no yet normalized. That is why there is still a feeling of shame when people buy sexual products in physical stores. Mysextery box is created to confront these taboos and to promote fun, safety and different sexual experiences. In the first stage, we interviewed our target audience and experts to obtain information about the problem. A sexologist, gynecologist, urologist, Ministry of Health worker, and a vendor from a sex shop were interviewed. In the second stage, we determined the steps to follow to develop a company from a business idea. Within the analysis, it highlights the importance of the operations and marketing. Our differential is the surprise factor and the personalization of the kits. Projections indicate that, under a discount rate of 15.56%, we will achieve a NPV of S/. 8,964.68 soles with an internal rate of return of 35.7% with a payback of 2.88 years. With these numbers, our project represents a great investment opportunity. / Trabajo de investigación