Thesis (Ph. D.)--University of Texas at Austin, 2003. / Supervisor: Steven A. Moore. Vita. Includes bibliographical references. Also available from UMI.

This dissertation investigates factors that influence efforts by lower-level employees to initiate organizational change and innovation from the bottom up. Specifically, I attempt to reconcile competing theories regarding the effects of structural and social integration on individual innovation efforts. One theoretical view posits that integration provides information, ideas, and motivation necessary for innovation. An alternative view is that integration constrains individuals and routines, and thereby hinders innovation efforts. Drawing on both theoretical perspectives, I predict the effects of distinct types of structural integration (e.g., centralization, cross-unit integration, boundary spanning) and social integration determinants (e.g., geographic dispersion, decision process involvement, workplace network size) on the likelihood of individual innovation efforts among lower-level employees. I also consider the effects of interactions of social and structural integration with individual characteristics (i.e., personality, and experience) on innovation efforts. I test these predictions using survey data collected from interns and supervisors in the context of MBA and undergraduate internships. Analyses demonstrate that several aspects of structural integration do influence the levels of individual innovation efforts. For example, centralization and boundary spanning levels of the work unit have inverse U-shaped / text

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Sequential Innovation involves the serial commercialization of improving products based on technologies that improve over time. In many industries such as semiconductors, electronics and computers, fundamental advances have presented firms with opportunities to substantially improve their product's capabilities in very short periods of time. Customers who invest in these products may, however, react adversely to rapid improvements that obsolete their previously purchased products. In the case of breakthrough products that create categories of their own, potential consumers might even be unaware of their own valuation for new products. In this dissertation, I identify and analyze some means by which a firm can engage in sequential innovation in the face of such apprehensions. In particular, I focus on three aspects of product development that have important implications for its eventual success in the market: product design, sourcing of components and distribution channels. In the first essay, motivated by an emerging trend in industrial markets, I analyze the role of modular upgradable designs in managing the introduction of rapidly improving products. I show that modular upgradability can reduce the need for slowing the pace of innovation or foregoing upgrade pricing. In the second essay, I study a dual set of challenges that arise for the modular innovator in the presence of strategic consumers and suppliers. The firm's ability to credibly signal its future design strategy could be adversely affected under various sourcing arrangements for peripheral components of the modular product. Even when consumers strategically plan their purchases while taking into account the firm's incentives, they often have limited understanding of their own valuation of a product before they buy it. In the third essay, I consider the role played by channels of distribution that play an educational role when selling sequentially improving products to such consumers who are uncertain about their preferences. The contribution of this dissertation is to formalize the sequential innovation problem and propose solutions that can help firms in synchronizing product development decisions with customers and other value-chain partners. / text

Increased competition, rapidly changing technology and customer expectations have caused the innovation process to become more complex and uncertain. This study examines the possible benefits of integrating some of the concepts of risk management into the innovation project. However, adopting rigorous risk management at every stage of the innovation process could be costly: some risk management could be valuable, but too much, or inappropriate risk management might stifle innovation. There are many separate models for innovation and risk management. This study develops a combined theoretical model which aims to help the understanding of appropriate risk management in innovation. The theoretical model is based on the classic innovation process but emphasises critical decision points and information needs at various stages, with various possible contributions from risk management. The stage-gate innovation process model, with its emphasis on decisions, provides a basis for incorporating risk management with decisions related to criteria and information needs; this stage-gate model was employed in the study as the core of a theoretical model combining innovation and risk management. The theoretical model was tested in a series of empirical case studies in the United Kingdom and Iran. These involved 40 detailed interviews in five medium-large companies from a variety of industries. The case studies suggest that the combined model of risk and innovation management should be relevant across diverse industries: staff from different countries (UK and Iran), industries and functional backgrounds could all relate to it and the theoretical model provided a useful structure for developing a more detailed understanding of the possible roles and implementation of risk management in innovation. The study suggests that there is no simple guidance that companies can apply in all situations. The choice of risk management techniques varies with different innovation projects, the characteristics of the particular industry and the environment. In addition, different aspects of the risk management system are useful in different stages of the innovation project and attempting to apply a standard technique throughout the innovation project could lead to failure. A prime example is in the creativity stage: simple risk identification at this stage may be useful but more rigorous risk analysis may be stifle creativity. More rigorous risk analysis may be more appropriate in the later stages of the innovation process. Companies can use this theoretical model to help people appreciate the possible contribution of risk management at the different stages of the innovation project.

M. Tech. Electrical Engineering / For the last 3 decades, interdisciplinary studies on the Brain Computer Interface (BCI) have grown in number. This common interest has been stirred up by recent developments in technology and opportunities seen in BCI. BCI systems provide an interface for communicating and controlling the physical environment, bypassing the normal neuromuscular pathways. They thus constitute an alternative means of control for the large population of people with limited to non-existent muscular abilities. Limitations in existing systems have prevented BCIs from being used in real life applications. New approaches are now being investigated with the aim of exporting BCI to home usage. This study investigates a BCI with realistic performances for practical home usage. It proposes a BCI to be used as a modality in a multimodal control of an exoskeleton.