Addresses the issue dealing with marketing technical innovations. A practical conceptual framework which offers a systematic approach to overcoming barriers related to the marketing of technical innovations is presented. The framework is currently being field tested in several organizations and comprises three parts. The first part (integration) addresses the open system organizational structure necessary to facilitate the successful marketing of technical innovation. The second part (investigation) addresses the formulation of systematic marketing efforts and strategies targeted at the the different entities in the customer's organization. The third part (implementation) outlines a practical implementation approach.

There has been a recurring debate on whether or not environmental regulations indirectly affect a firm's cost structure by motivating it to engage in technological innovation. Accordingly, innovation would eventually play a key role in a firm's market competitiveness or profitability. The Porter hypothesis therefore presents an interesting paradigm that through regulatory impetus, firms can be motivated to pursue innovation and strengthen it's market performance. However, opponents of the Porter hypothesis argue that increasing the stringency of regulations does not necessarily equate to greater profitability. This paper tests the Porter hypothesis by using an augmented version of Repetto's model. The empirical results show that while the sign of the correlation coefficients tend to validate those of the Porter hypothesis, the association between environmental and economic performance is either subject to a spurious correlation problem when they are significant or is insignificant even when the effects of extraneous variables are netted out. / Master of Arts

Thesis (Ed.D.)--Boston University / PLEASE NOTE: Boston University Libraries did not receive an Authorization To Manage form for this thesis or dissertation. It is therefore not openly accessible, though it may be available by request. If you are the author or principal advisor of this work and would like to request open access for it, please contact us at open-help@bu.edu. Thank you. / This dissertation studied the implementation of Outlook 98, Microsoft's desktop information management software, at Saybrook University and Bancroft Valley Bank (fictitious names). The major research question was, What does the life cycle of Outlook 98 at Saybrook University and Bancroft National Bank tell us about the pattern of implementation at these two sites, and what roles do users' "technological frames" play in each site's implementation process? Employing a qualitative methodology and a conceptual framework based on Wanda Orlikowski's works on "technological frames" (nature of technology, technology strategy and technology in use) and an "episodic" (three-stage) pattern of adaptation, the author conducted unstructured and structured interviews, directly observed meetings and training sessions, and analyzed existing documents to ascertain participants' experience with Outlook 98. The findings corroborated Orlikowski's descriptions of the frames and episodic adaptation, and uncovered three new insights related to the technological frames. First, the frames first appeared in a pre-implementation stage, or what Zaltman, Duncan and Holbek (1973) call the "Formation of Attitudes Toward the Innovation" substage of an innovation's initiation stage. The users' spontaneous and vivid figurative language-similes and metaphors-presented images of motion, rest and calm, and momentary stasis before further motion in the various stages. Second, users at both sites experienced "antecedent intolerance," the author's term for a drastic change in their nature of technology frame, from an originally negative perception of the new software and a reluctance to use it to an eventual refusal to give it up. The shift in their frames was so complete that it represented not merely a modification of the original frames but a replacement of them. And third, the findings suggest two new domains of technological frames: a User/Change Agent domain (users' and change agents' perceptions of each other) and a Learning the Technology domain, which the author feels is so important that he proposes a new ASK Model of Learning, an approach to training that would address users' attitudes in the pre-implementation stage and first stage of use, skills in the second stage, and knowledge in the third stage. / 2999-01-01

In the summer of 1940 around five thousand aircraft clashed during several months for control of the skies over Britain. The fighter aircraft used by the German Luftwaffe and British Royal Air Force were, for the most part, very similar. They were monoplane airframes made with a metal structure and covered with fabric or metal skin, their engines produced around 1,000 h.p., and the aircraft themselves achieved speeds of around 350 to 370 m.p.h. They had retractable undercarriages and were bristling with armaments. These aircraft stood in stark contrast to those used just over twenty years earlier in the First World War. Those machines were biplanes, almost exclusively made from wood, covered in a doped fabric, their engines produced around 400 h.p., with speeds at around 120 m.p.h., they had fixed undercarriages, one or two machine guns and were largely un-armoured. In a little over twenty years the basic form of fighter aircraft had changed, and the materials used in their construction had changed. The engines, guns, interior structure and even the operational roles to which they were assigned had been altered to greater or lesser extents. The period 1918-1939 was, therefore, very important in the development of British fighter aircraft, as it was in aviation technology more generally. The inter-war period suggested itself for several reasons. Firstly, the historiography upon which part of this thesis is hinged deals largely with its latter years and the years leading to World War Two. Due to this concentration on the mid-late 1930s, there is no real sense of what was going on in the 1920s, or attempts to understand the changes that the technology, and the institutions behind them, went through over the years. Secondly, following the First World War, the British aircraft industry was possessed of some considerable degree of competence and experience. To study the development of aviation technology before the war would be to catalogue the efforts of a number of pioneers each doing their own thing and following their own beliefs. To look at such development during the First World War would be to look at what happens when money is no serious object to research and development, production space, labour, management and so on. In looking at the inter-war years, we can examine a new industry that has just come out of a very considerable baptism of fire (in the case of Britain this baptism came just five years after her first successful flight was conducted). We can examine an industry that had to deal with enormous cutbacks, governmental micromanagement and lacking, for a long time, a fertile market in which to operate. Furthermore, the twenty years of the inter-war period allows us to look at a protracted period of technological change enabling us to account for the many varied and changing factors influencing the development of British fighter aircraft. Finally, the approach of the Second World War, the danger of Adolf Hitler and National Socialism and the proliferation of the Luftwaffe was not lost on policymakers and so this period also allows us to examine the effects of wider international events on technology. As it will be shown in the section dealing with historiography there has been plenty of work examining the British aircraft industry, individual aircraft and even the technologies which appeared over the twenty years that this thesis covers. However, there has been a great scarcity of work attempting to explain how such technologies appeared, how they linked together and how aircraft technology changed over the period. These are important questions, not only in terms of providing comprehensive explanations for their creation, development and existence but also in providing crucial context when attempting to pass judgement (as many historians have done) on the industry and the technology it created, and the politics and bureaucracy involved in shaping the technology. Using the example of British fighter aircraft during the 1920s and 1930s, this thesis will look at how the pace of technological change was set. How and why did British fighter aircraft develop the way they did and at the pace that they did? In particular, it will address the central issue of how the shift from the wooden biplanetype fighter of 1918 to the metal monoplane-type of 1939 came about. And can this change be conceptualised as a ‘paradigm shift’ from one ‘technological paradigm’ to another? This is particularly interesting because many consider that aviation now needs to carry out another paradigm shift, due to concerns about environmental impacts, especially as regards climate change.

Prior research on incumbent firm response to radical technological innovation identifies firm, technology, and environmental factors associated with incumbents’ performance after a technology shift. What remains unexplored are factors affecting choice of response made before a technological shift occurs. Such ex ante choices are important intermediate outcomes affecting long-term performance outcomes. Competitive considerations may be influential inputs in choice processes because technological innovation is often related to competitive strategy. The resulting research question for this study is: What role do competitive considerations play in incumbent firms’ ex ante strategic choices in response to potentially radical technological innovations? Findings from a survey of key informants in the electronics industry whose firms face a potential technological disruption (n=120) suggest that incumbents’ response choices are affected by competitor-related orientations and by perceptions of relative strength of their strategic assets. Limited support is found for a moderating effect of perceptions of the competitive environment. The results of this study extend theory on incumbent response to radical technological change by shedding light on the influence of competitor interdependence. Findings also suggest the importance of strategic choice as an intermediate variable in understanding incumbents’ long-term performance. Research examining choice factors at varied stages of a technology’s diffusion can further advance understanding of the evolving nature of strategic response choices and the effects they have on long-term performance.

A research report submitted to the Faculty of Humanities, University of the Witwatersrand, Johannesburg, in partial fulfilment of the requirements for the degree of Master of Arts in Translation (Option Interpreting) Johannesburg, 2017 / The aim of this research project is to examine the feasibility of using technology such as email and YouTube in pre-assessing potential interpreting students. This research project investigates existing pre-assessment methods and proposes a method for online interpreter pre-assessment. Pre-assessment for candidate interpreters is essential, but no standard or universal pre-assessment test exists. Scholars agree on several aspects that should be tested for, yet institutions providing interpreter training conduct pre-assessment tests differently. Generally, pre-assessment testing involves a jury or panel interviewing the potential student and observing him/her perform interpreting-related tasks. Pre-assessment by jury assessment presents several logistical and financial challenges for the institution conducting pre-assessment as well as the potential student. In poor regions such as Africa, this could prevent potentially viable interpreting students from attending pre-assessment tests. This research project investigates current pre-assessment practices in order to determine the skills generally tested for in pre-assessment tests, as well as the methods used for assessing these skills. Based on this investigation, an online delivery method is developed and evaluated in order to determine the extent to which online pre-assessment could be used as an alternative to using a jury for pre-assessment testing. Wits Language School in Johannesburg, South Africa is used as a pilot study for online interpreter pre-assessment: Interpreting students who applied for study, were given the option of online pre-assessment. After the pre-assessment, students attended a course in interpreting and their performance in the pre-assessment test was compared with their performance in the examination for the course. These results along with interviews and questionnaires provide useful information regarding the feasibility of online interpreter pre-assessment. / MT 2018

Ao longo das últimas décadas, a competitividade empresarial foi e continuará dependente da inovação em suas diversas formas. Estruturas dinâmicas e abertas para gerar e compartilhar conhecimentos, competências e tecnologias estão ganhando espaço, não só nos grandes grupos empresariais, localizados em países desenvolvidos, mas em empresas dos mais variados portes e de nacionalidades variadas, com destaque para as multinacionais dos países emergentes. Estas constatações são de suma importância às temáticas de inovação, internacionalização e cooperação, mas o ponto-chave é compreender que, na atualidade, a fonte primordial da competitividade empresarial está relacionada não apenas à inovação propriamente dita, mas em como a inovação é dinâmica e continuamente criada, disseminada e renovada. Foi a partir desse cenário que este trabalho se propôs a verificar como a trajetória e a maturidade da cooperabilidade influenciam a inovação local e global das Multinacionais Brasileiras (MNBrs). Para tanto, foi realizada uma pesquisa baseada na utilização sequencial das abordagens qualitativas e quantitativas. O método utilizado na etapa qualitativa foi o estudo de casos múltiplos, dado que três MNBrs foram analisadas em profundidade: Petrobras, Braskem e Oxiteno. Os dados qualitativos foram coletados por meio de entrevistas e, para analisá-los, utilizou-se análise documental e de conteúdo, sendo também adotado o software ATLAS na análise comparativa dos casos. Na etapa quantitativa foi realizado um levantamento junto ao universo de MNBrs, sendo que uma amostra definitiva de 60 empresas responderam um questionário estruturado. A análise dos dados quantitativos foi processada pelo software SPSS (Statistical Package for Social Sciences) versão 17.0., cujos testes estatísticos realizados foram o X2, o Alpha de Cronbach, a Correlação, a fatorial, o Componente Principal e a Regressão Múltipla. Os resultados obtidos nas etapas qualitativas e quantitativas geraram conclusões sobre (a) os fatores que afetam a trajetória da cooperabilidade, (b) os fatores que afetam a maturidade da cooperabilidade e (c) o impacto da trajetória e da maturidade da cooperabilidade sobre a inovação local e global que, por fim, culminaram na (d) proposição de um modelo sobre a cooperabilidade. / Over the past decades, business competitiveness has been dependent on innovation and will continue to be so in its various forms. Dynamic and open structures to generate and share knowledge, skills and technologies are spawning not only in large corporate groups located in developed countries, but also in companies of all sizes and different nationalities, especially multinationals from emerging countries. These findings are of relevant importance to innovation, internationalization and cooperation, but the key point is to understand that, currently, the primary source of corporate competitiveness is related not only to the innovation itself, but also in how innovation is dynamic and continuously created, disseminated and renewed. It was from this scenario that this study aimed to verify how the trajectory and maturity of innovation cooperability influence local and global Brazilian Multinationals (BMN). For this purpose, a survey was conducted based on the sequential use of qualitative and quantitative approaches. The method used in the qualitative step was the multiple case study, given that three BMN were analyzed in depth: Petrobras, Braskem and Oxiteno. Qualitative data were collected through interviews and in order to analyze them, documents and content analysis was used, besides the adoption of ATLAS software in comparative case analysis. In the quantitative stage, a survey to the universe of MNBrs was conducted, with a final sample of 60 firms which answered a structured questionnaire. The quantitative analysis was conducted using the software SPSS (Statistical Package for Social Sciences) version 17.0, whose performed statistical tests were the X2, the Cronbach\'s alpha, the correlation, the factor, the Principal Component and Multiple Regression. The results obtained in qualitative and quantitative steps generated conclusions about (a) the factors affecting the trajectory of cooperability, (b) the factors affecting the maturity of cooperability and (c) the impact of history and maturity of cooperability on local and global innovation, which finally resulted in (d) proposing a model on cooperability.

A digitalização e a popularização da internet podem fazer o livro impresso, que existe há mais de quinhentos anos, desaparecer em um futuro próximo. Diversos produtos pertencentes à mesma indústria de bens informativos, como a música, vêm atualmente sendo entregues pela indústria e consumidos de maneira bastante diferente de alguns anos atrás. Livros continuam sendo majoritariamente consumidos em seu formato impresso. Por quê? O principal objetivo desta pesquisa é identificar as diferenças de percepção sobre a adoção de livros didáticos eletrônicos entre professores universitários e profissionais da indústria editorial. A pesquisa utiliza o método survey e o instrumento desenvolvido por Moore e Benbasat (1991) sobre adoção de inovações. Foram pesquisadas as percepções de professores universitários e profissionais de editoras sobre a possível utilização de livros eletrônicos didáticos no lugar de impressos. As conclusões indicam que os professores estão mais preparados para a utilização de livros eletrônicos do que imaginam os profissionais de editoras. / The digitization and the spread of the internet may result in the extinction of the printed book, that has existed for more than 500 years. Many products that belongs to the same information industry, like thes the music, are currently being provided by the industry and consumed in radically different manners as compared to just few years ago. Books still have been consumed mainly in the printed format. Why is that? The main objective of this research is to identify the differences in perception about the adoption of electronic didactic books among university professors and publishing professionals. This research uses the Survey as its method and the instrument developed by Moore and Benbasat (1991) about the adoption of innovations. Professors´ and Publishing professionals´ perceptions were investigated in what it concerned the possible use of electronic didactic books replacing the printed. It is concluded that professors are more prepared to make use of electronic books than it is imagined by the publishing professionals.

Inicialmente os parques tecnológicos foram criados de forma espontânea. Posteriormente, a criação de parques passou a ser feita de forma planejada e estruturada. Em ambos os casos o objetivo é o de promover o apoio à criação de empresas de base tecnológica (EBTs) e a sua interação com universidades. Com isso, esses ambientes visam promover o desenvolvimento econômico e tecnológico das regiões em que estão inseridos. Nesses ambientes se instalam micro, pequenas, médias e grandes empresas, ou parte delas. Nesse sentido, essa pesquisa propôs-se a investigar e analisar quais os fatores que devem estar presentes nos parques tecnológicos de modo que se tornem atrativos para a instalação de empresas inovadoras. Para tanto, foram identificados os fatores de localização, os quais foram agrupados em um questionário com perguntas fechadas e, posteriormente, submetidos às empresas instaladas em quatro parques tecnológicos em operação no Brasil, a saber: Sergipe Parque Tecnológico (SergipeTec), localizado em Aracaju/ Sergipe; Parque Tecnológico do Vale do Sinos, em Campo Bom/ Rio Grande do Sul; Parque Científico e Tecnológico da PUCRS (TECNOPUC), em Porto Alegre/ Rio Grande do Sul; e Porto Digital, em Recife/ Pernambuco. A partir disso, foi feita uma comparação das médias do grau de importância, bem como, da freqüência de uso atribuída a cada um dos fatores de localização listados no questionário auto-administrado. Os resultados foram sintetizados em uma análise descritiva na qual pôde-se observar que os cinco fatores mais importantes e que podem influenciar na decisão de localização da empresa estão relacionados ao apoio financeiro articulado pelo parque. Foi aplicado método estatístico de análise multivariada, análise fatorial, na variáveis de freqüência de uso, de modo que foram identificados 7 fatores latentes que influenciam na decisão da empresa, dentre eles: acessibilidade a fontes de capital, parceria com universidades, facilidades de locomoção e lazer, infra-estrutura e serviços comuns e incentivo municipal e restaurantes Essa pesquisa pode ser utilizada pelas instituições que se encontram tanto em fase de implantação de parques tecnológicos quanto por aquelas que já gerenciam parques em operação para atração de empresas inovadoras e conseqüente melhoria dos resultados. / Initially technology parks have been created in a spontaneous way. Subsequently, the creation of parks is now done on a planned and structured way. In both cases the goal is to promote the support for the creation of technology-based companies (EBTs) and its interaction with universities. With this, these environments promote the economic and technological development of the regions in which they are inserted. In such environments micro, small, medium and large companies, or part of it, set up. In that sense, this research proposed to investigate and analyze which factors must be present in technology parks in order to become attractive for the installation of innovative companies. For that, the factors of location were identified, and were grouped in a questionnaire with closed questions, and later submitted to the companies located in four technology parks in operation in Brazil, namely: Sergipe Technological Park (SergipeTec), located in Aracaju / Sergipe; Technological Park Vale do Sinos, in Campo Bom / Rio Grande do Sul; Scientific and Technological Park of PUCRS (TECNOPUC) in Porto Alegre / Rio Grande do Sul; and Porto Digital, in Recife / Pernambuco. From this, an average comparison was made between the importance in degree and frequency of use attributed to each of the factors listed in the location in the selfadministered questionnaire. The results were summarized in a descriptive analysis from where it could be observed that the five most important factors which may influence a companys location decision are related to financial support articulated by the park. It was applied a statystic method of multivarieted analysis, factorial analysis on the variety of frequency of use, in a way that it could be identified 7 latent factors which influence in the companys decision, to be mentioned: acessibility to capital sources, partnership with universities, motion and leisure facilities, infrastructure and common services, besides municipal incentive and restaurants. This research can be used by institutions that are either under implementation of technology parks as for, by those that have already been managing parks in operation in the attraction of innovative business and consequent improvement of the results.

O objetivo geral do presente trabalho foi identificar e caracterizar os aspectos financeiros do processo de implementação de inovações tecnológicas na indústria brasileira, no período 1998-2005. Em tal processo foram analisados o financiamento e os mecanismos financeiros de incentivo governamental para a realização de investimentos em atividades inovativas na indústria brasileira. Os dados utilizados foram obtidos em fontes secundárias, como Instituto Brasileiro de Geografia e Estatística (IBGE), Ministério da Ciência e Tecnologia (MCT), Organização para Cooperação Econômica e Desenvolvimento (OCDE) e Oficina Estatística da União Européia (EUROSTAT). Especificamente sobre inovação tecnológica na indústria brasileira, foram utilizados os dados da Pesquisa Industrial sobre Inovação Tecnológica (PINTEC), do IBGE. Tais dados foram comparados com os resultados da quarta versão da Community Innovation Survey (CIS IV), da EUROSTAT. Há, na indústria brasileira, uma larga predominância das inovações que correspondem a aprimoramento de produtos e ou processos já existentes na empresa, ou de inovações para a própria empresa, mas já existentes no setor, no Brasil. O investimento nacional em P&D é relativamente baixo e a execução de P&D está associada mais ao governo. O setor empresarial executa cerca de 40% da P&D no Brasil. Na indústria brasileira, cerca de metade dos recursos investidos em atividades inovativas é destinada à aquisição de máquinas e equipamentos para inovar. Em segundo lugar aparecem os investimentos em atividades internas de P&D e em terceiro lugar as atividades de projeto industrial. Dentre as diferentes fontes de financiamento para inovação, o percentual de recursos próprios utilizados no financiamento das atividades inovativas é maior, principalmente no caso das atividades de P&D, em comparação com o financiamento dos investimentos em geral. Com relação aos recursos de terceiros, o percentual de utilização de recursos privados é maior no caso do financiamento das demais atividades inovativas, quando comparado com o percentual de recursos privados no financiamento da P&D, ainda que o percentual de recursos públicos seja maior que o de linhas de mercado, tanto no financiamento da P&D como das demais atividades inovativas. As possibilidades de utilização de linhas de financiamento de mercado para financiamento da P&D são reduzidas, por conta do risco elevado de tais atividades. A possibilidade de utilização de financiamento público para as atividades inovativas, principalmente a P&D, torna-se particularmente importante. As empresas maiores, com 500 ou mais pessoas ocupadas, têm melhor acesso aos recursos públicos, quando a base de comparação utilizada é o percentual de empresas que receberam financiamento público para realização de P&D e de aquisição de máquinas e equipamentos para inovar. O percentual de empresas inovadoras que utilizaram incentivos fiscais à P&D também apresentou grande disparidade entre as empresas maiores (com 500 ou mais pessoas ocupadas) e as menores. Essa disparidade é conseqüência das características dos benefícios previstos pela legislação. / The general purpose of the present study was the identification and characterization of the financial aspects of the process of implementation of technological innovation in the Brazilian industry, from 1998 to 2005. Funding and incentive mechanisms provided by the government to enhance investments in innovation in the Brazilian industry were assessed. The data used in this study were obtained from secondary sources, such as the Brazilian Institute of Geography and Statistics (IBGE), the Ministry of Science and Technology (MCT), the Organization for Economic Co-operation and Development (OECD) and the Statistical Office of the European Union (EUROSTAT). Concerning specifically technology innovation in the Brazilian industry, data from IBGEs Industrial Research on Technological Innovation (PINTEC) were used. Such data were compared to the results obtained in the fourth version of the Community Innovation Survey (CIS IV) by EUROSTAT. Innovation in the Brazilian industry is mostly based on the improvement of existing products and processes, or else on the introduction of processes that constitute an innovation in a given company, but already exist in the industry segment of the country. Brazilian investment levels in R&D are relatively low and most R&D activities are carried out by the government. Around 40% of R&D activities in Brazil are carried out by the entrepreneurial segment. Approximately half of the resources invested in innovation in the Brazilian industry are devoted to the purchase of machinery and implements to be used in innovation processes. Investments in in-house R&D activities come next and, finally, investments in industrial projects. Considering the various sources of financing innovation, the largest percentage corresponds to enterprises own funds, particularly in R&D activities, compared to the funding of investments in general. With regard to third-party funding, a greater percentage of private resources is used in other innovative activities compared to the percentage of private resources used in the funding of R&D activities, although the percent of public funding is greater than the private funding lines both for R&D and other innovative activities. There are few private funding lines for financing innovative activities, particularly R&D, due to the high risk of such activities. Therefore, the use of public funding in innovative activities, particularly R&D activities, becomes an important alternative. Larger companies, with 500 or more employees, have better access to public funding, when the comparative basis used is the percentage of companies that obtained public funding for performing R&D activities and the purchase of machinery and equipment for innovation purposes. The percentage of innovative companies that used fiscal incentives for R&D activities also showed a great disparity between larger companies (with 500 or more employees) and smaller companies. Such disparity results from the characteristics of the benefits stipulated by legislation.