Intellectual capital disclosures by South African companies:a longitudinal investigation

Most of the previous studies on intellectual capital disclosures have been conducted from developed countries' context. There is very limited empirical evidence in this area from the context of emerging economies in general and Africa in particular. This paper is one of the early attempts in this regard. The main purpose of this study is to examine the extent and nature of intellectual capitaldisclosures in ‘Top 20’ South African companies over a 5 years period (2002–2006). The study uses content analysis method to scrutinise the patterns of intellectual capital disclosures during the study period. The results show that intellectual capital disclosures in South Africa have increased over the 5 years study period with certain firms reporting considerably more than others. Out of the three broad categories of intellectual capital disclosures human capital appears to be the most popular category. This finding stands in sharp contrast to the previous studies in this area where external capital was found to be most popular category.

Intellectual capital disclosures and corporate governance:an empirical examination

Empirical examinations of the links between corporate governance and intellectual capital are underresearched, particularly from the context of emerging economies where corporate governance mechanisms tend to be largely ceremonial due to family dominance. This study aims to address this gap in the intellectual capital disclosure (ICD) literature by undertaking an empirical examination of the relationship between corporate governance and the extent of ICD of Bangladeshi companies. Inter alia, the key findings of this study suggest that there is a non-linear relationship between family ownership and the extent of ICD. This research also found that foreign ownership, board independence, and the presence of audit committees are positively associated with the extent of ICD. Conversely, family duality (i.e., where the positions of CEO and chairperson are occupied by two individuals from the same family) is negatively associated with the extent of ICD.

Empirical analysis of human capital development and economic growth in Europe

Recent discussion of the knowledge-based economy draws increasingly attention to the role that the creation and management of knowledge plays in economic development. Development of human capital, the principal mechanism for knowledge creation and management, becomes a central issue for policy-makers and practitioners at the regional, as well as national, level. Facing competition both within and across nations, regional policy-makers view human capital development as a key to strengthening the positions of their economies in the global market. Against this background, the aim of this study is to go some way towards answering the question of whether, and how, investment in education and vocational training at regional level provides these territorial units with comparative advantages. The study reviews literature in economics and economic geography on economic growth (Chapter 2). In growth model literature, human capital has gained increased recognition as a key production factor along with physical capital and labour. Although leaving technical progress as an exogenous factor, neoclassical Solow-Swan models have improved their estimates through the inclusion of human capital. In contrast, endogenous growth models place investment in research at centre stage in accounting for technical progress. As a result, they often focus upon research workers, who embody high-order human capital, as a key variable in their framework. An issue of discussion is how human capital facilitates economic growth: is it the level of its stock or its accumulation that influences the rate of growth? In addition, these economic models are criticised in economic geography literature for their failure to consider spatial aspects of economic development, and particularly for their lack of attention to tacit knowledge and urban environments that facilitate the exchange of such knowledge. Our empirical analysis of European regions (Chapter 3) shows that investment by individuals in human capital formation has distinct patterns. Those regions with a higher level of investment in tertiary education tend to have a larger concentration of information and communication technology (ICT) sectors (including provision of ICT services and manufacture of ICT devices and equipment) and research functions. Not surprisingly, regions with major metropolitan areas where higher education institutions are located show a high enrolment rate for tertiary education, suggesting a possible link to the demand from high-order corporate functions located there. Furthermore, the rate of human capital development (at the level of vocational type of upper secondary education) appears to have significant association with the level of entrepreneurship in emerging industries such as ICT-related services and ICT manufacturing, whereas such association is not found with traditional manufacturing industries. In general, a high level of investment by individuals in tertiary education is found in those regions that accommodate high-tech industries and high-order corporate functions such as research and development (R&D). These functions are supported through the urban infrastructure and public science base, facilitating exchange of tacit knowledge. They also enjoy a low unemployment rate. However, the existing stock of human and physical capital in those regions with a high level of urban infrastructure does not lead to a high rate of economic growth. Our empirical analysis demonstrates that the rate of economic growth is determined by the accumulation of human and physical capital, not by level of their existing stocks. We found no significant effects of scale that would favour those regions with a larger stock of human capital. The primary policy implication of our study is that, in order to facilitate economic growth, education and training need to supply human capital at a faster pace than simply replenishing it as it disappears from the labour market. Given the significant impact of high-order human capital (such as business R&D staff in our case study) as well as the increasingly fast pace of technological change that makes human capital obsolete, a concerted effort needs to be made to facilitate its continuous development.

Exploitation of fibre characteristics in temperature sensing and radio-over-fibre applications

The development of sensing devices is one of the instrumentation fields that has grown rapidly in the last decade. Corresponding to the swift advance in the development of microelectronic sensors, optical fibre sensors are widely investigated because of their advantageous properties over the electronics sensors such as their wavelength multiplexing capability and high sensitivity to temperature, pressure, strain, vibration and acoustic emission. Moreover, optical fibre sensors are more attractive than the electronics sensors as they can perform distributed sensing, in terms of covering a reasonably large area using a single piece of fibre. Apart from being a responsive element in the sensing field, optical fibre possesses good assets in generating, distributing, processing and transmitting signals in the future broadband information network. These assets include wide bandwidth, high capacity and low loss that grant mobility and flexibility for wireless access systems. Among these core technologies, the fibre optic signal processing and transmission of optical and radio frequency signals have been the subjects of study in this thesis. Based on the intrinsic properties of single-mode optical fibre, this thesis aims to exploit the fibre characteristics such as thermal sensitivity, birefringence, dispersion and nonlinearity, in the applications of temperature sensing and radio-over-fibre systems. By exploiting the fibre thermal sensitivity, a fully distributed temperature sensing system consisting of an apodised chirped fibre Bragg grating has been implemented. The proposed system has proven to be efficient in characterising grating and providing the information of temperature variation, location and width of the heat source applied in the area under test.To exploit the fibre birefringence, a fibre delay line filter using a single high-birefringence optical fibre structure has been presented. The proposed filter can be reconfigured and programmed by adjusting the input azimuth of launched light, as well as the strength and direction of the applied coupling, to meet the requirements of signal processing for different purposes in microwave photonic and optical filtering applications. To exploit the fibre dispersion and nonlinearity, experimental investigations have been carried out to study their joint effect in high power double-sideband and single-sideband modulated links with the presence of fibre loss. The experimental results have been theoretically verified based on the in-house implementation of the split-step Fourier method applied to the generalised nonlinear Schrödinger equation. Further simulation study on the inter-modulation distortion in two-tone signal transmission has also been presented so as to show the effect of nonlinearity of one channel on the other. In addition to the experimental work, numerical simulations have also been carried out in all the proposed systems, to ensure that all the aspects concerned are comprehensively investigated.

The PCF and the question of intellectual workers : the crisis of social ideology

The aim of this thesis is to examine the approach of the Parti Communiste Francais (from 1956 to 1982) to the emergence of new strata of salaried `intellectual workers' (technicians, engineers, low to middle managers in industry and commerce, scientific researchers, teachers etc) parallelled by the gradual diminution of the traditional industrial working class which forms the core of the Party's support base. This examination is carried out in the context of the debate in France (initiated in the 1950s by social theorists of the Left) on the class membership and role of these strata. The reason for the emergence of such a debate is that in a society given to both a rapid evolution of its social structure and an increased polarisation between Left and Right, a precise knowledge of the objective and subjective determinations of new strata would enable parties to the Left to make proper distinctions between potential allies and adversaries. The thesis posits the view that the PCF has failed to make correct distinctions between its potential allies and adversaries and has thus pursued unsuccessful alliance strategies. The thesis contributes towards a scientifically-based understanding of one of the reasons governing the PCF's steady decline since the 1950s.

Exploitation of multilayer coatings for infrared surface plasmon resonance fiber sensors

We demonstrate surface plasmon resonance (SPR) fiber devices based upon ultraviolet inscription of a grating-type structure into both single-layered and multilayered thin films deposited on the flat side of a lapped D-shaped fiber. The single-layered devices were fabricated from germanium, while the multilayered ones comprised layers of germanium, silica, and silver. Some of the devices operated in air with high coupling efficiency in excess of 40 dB and an estimated index sensitivity of Delta lambda/Delta n = 90 mn from 1 to 1.15 index range, while others provided an index sensitivity of Delta lambda/Delta n = 6790 mn for refractive indices from 1.33 to 1.37. (C) 2009 Optical Society of America

Shaping strategic action through the rhetorical construction and exploitation of ambiguity

This paper extends existing understandings of how actors' constructions of ambiguity shape the emergent process of strategic action. We theoretically elaborate the role of rhetoric in exploiting strategic ambiguity, based on analysis of a longitudinal case study of an internationalization strategy within a business school. Our data show that actors use rhetoric to construct three types of strategic ambiguity: protective ambiguity that appeals to common values in order to protect particular interests, invitational ambiguity that appeals to common values in order to invite participation in particular actions, and adaptive ambiguity that enables the temporary adoption of specific values in order to appeal to a particular audience at one point in time. These rhetorical constructions of ambiguity follow a processual pattern that shapes the emergent process of strategic action. Our findings show that (1) the strategic actions that emerge are shaped by the way actors construct and exploit ambiguity, (2) the ambiguity intrinsic to the action is analytically distinct from ambiguity that is constructed and exploited by actors, and (3) ambiguity construction shifts over time to accommodate the emerging pattern of actions.

Growth expectations of business owners:impact of human capital, firm characteristics and environmental transition

This paper presents an empirical study based on a survey of 399 owners of small and medium size companies in Lithuania. Applying bivariate and ordered probit estimators, we investigate why some business owners expect their firms to expand, while others do not. Our main findings provide evidence that SME owner's generic and specific human capital matter. Those with higher education and 'learning by doing' attributes, either through previous job experience or additional entrepreneurial experience, expect their businesses to expand. The expectations of growth are positively related to exporting and non-monotonically to enterprise size. In addition, we analyse the link between the perceptions of constraints to business activities and growth expectations and find that the factors, which are perceived as main business barriers, are not necessary those which are associated with reduced growth expectations. In particular, perceptions of both corruption and of inadequate tax systems seem to affect growth expectations the most.

Development of rapid capital cost estimation techniques for the chemical processing industries

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A study of the exploitation of the properties of natural rubber in tyres

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The value of intellectual property to firms and society

Economists view intellectual property rights (IPRs) as policy tools for encouraging innovation, but they recognize that they can also inhibit competition. There are many types of IPRs and institutions concerned with their administration. We begin by outlining how these complex and varied rights are supposed to work and how they interact with other characteristics of firms and markets. We then survey the available literature on patents, trade marks, and copyright to assess the value of these IPRs to firms and the costs to firms of acquiring and defending their rights. The paper concludes with suggestions for topics requiring further research to inform public policy better.

The Hargreaves Review : digital opportunity:a review of intellectual property and growth

In December 2010 the Hargreaves Review was asked to “develop proposals on how the UK's intellectual property framework can further promote entrepreneurialism, economic growth and social and commercial innovation”. It reported in May 2011. The Government published its response in August 2011. This is an overview of both the Review and the Government Response.

Taxation of intellectual property: the new regime for companies

Central aspects of new regime for taxation of intangible assets introduced by FA 2002 which seeks to align tax treatment with accounting treatment of intellectual property