Why do firms acquire external technologies? Understanding the motivations for technology acquisitions

Why do firms acquire external technologies? Previous research indicates that there are a wide variety of motivations. These include the need to acquire valuable knowledge-based resources, to improve strategic flexibility, to experiment), to overcome organisational inertia, to mitigate risk and uncertainty, to reduce costs and development time in new product development, and the perception that the firm has the absorptive capacity to integrate acquisitions. In this paper we provide an in-depth literature review of the motivations for the acquisition of external technologies by firms. We find that these motivations can be broadly classed into four categories: (1) the development of technological capabilities, (2) the development of strategic options, (3) efficiency improvements, and (4) responses to the competitive environment. In light of this categorisation, we comment on how these different motivations connect to the wider issues of technology acquisition. © 2010 IEEE.

Intrinsic motivation and design of ICT for the ageing population

Chapter 11 Intrinsic Motivation and Design of ICT for ... Information and Communication Technology (ICT) systems provide an increasingly promising platform with which to improve the efficiency and effectiveness of healthcare, ...

Intrinsic state lifetimes in Pd103 and Cd106,107

The mean-lifetimes, τ, of various medium-spin excited states in Pd103 and Cd106,107 have been deduced using the Recoil Distance Doppler Shift technique and the Differential Decay Curve Method. In Cd106, the mean-lifetimes of the Iπ=12+ state at Ex=5418 keV and the Iπ=11- state at Ex=4324 keV have been deduced as 11.4(17)ps and 8.2(7)ps, respectively. The associated β2 deformation within the axially-symmetric deformed rotor model for these states are 0.14(1) and 0.14(1), respectively. The β2 deformation of 0.14(1) for the Iπ=12+ state in Cd106 compares with a predicted β2 value from total Routhian surface (TRS) calculations of 0.17. In addition, the mean-lifetimes of the yrast Iπ=152- states in Pd103 (at Ex=1262 keV) and Cd107 (at Ex=1360 keV) have been deduced to be 31.2(44)ps and 31.4(17)ps, respectively, corresponding to β2 values of 0.16(1) and 0.12(1) assuming axial symmetry. Agreement with TRS calculations are good for Pd103 but deviate for that predicted for Cd107. © 2007 The American Physical Society.

Nearly intrinsic exciton lifetimes in single twin-free GaAsAlGaAs core-shell nanowire heterostructures

CW and time-resolved photoluminescence measurements are used to investigate exciton recombination dynamics in GaAsAlGaAs heterostructure nanowires grown with a recently developed technique which minimizes twinning. A thin capping layer is deposited to eliminate the possibility of oxidation of the AlGaAs shell as a source of oxygen defects in the GaAs core. We observe exciton lifetimes of ∼1 ns, comparable to high quality two-dimensional double heterostructures. These GaAs nanowires allow one to observe state filling and many-body effects resulting from the increased carrier densities accessible with pulsed laser excitation. © 2008 American Institute of Physics.