Efficiency and total factor productivity changes of Malaysian commercial banks

This paper analyses the efficiency of Malaysian commercial banks between 1996 and 2002 and finds that while the East Asian financial crisis caused a short-term increase in efficiency in 1998 primarily due to cost-cutting, increases in non-performing loans after the crisis caused a more sustained decline in bank efficiency. It is also found that mergers, fully Islamic banks, and conventional banks operating Islamic banking windows are all associated with lower efficiency. The paper estimates suggest mild decreasing returns to scale, and an average productivity change of 2.37% that is primarily attributable to technical change, which has nonetheless declined over time. Finally, while Islamic banks have been moderately successful in developing new products and technologies, the results suggest that the potential for Islamic banks to overcome their relative inefficiency is limited.

Teamwork for product innovation in Taiwanese family firms:an indigenous psychology perspective: An indigenous psychology

As the existing team literature mostly excludes context and culture, little is known about how these elements affect real-life team working (Engestrom, 2008; Salas & Wildman, 2009), and how teams work in non-Western settings, such as in Chinese firms (Phan, Zhou, & Abrahamson, 2010).This research addresses this issue by investigating how new product design (NPD) teams use team working to carry out product innovation in the context of Chinese family businesses (CFBs) via an indigenous psychology perspective. Unlike mainstream teamwork literature which mostly employs an etic design, an indigenous psychology perspective adopts an emic approach which places emphasis on understanding real-life phenomena in context through a cultural-insider perspective (Kim, 2000). Compatible with this theoretical position, a multiple qualitative case study approach was used as the research methodology. Three qualitative case studies were carried out in three longstanding family-run manufacturing firms in Taiwan, where family firms have been the pillars of high economic growth in the past five decades (W.-w. Chu, 2009). Two salient findings were established across the three case studies. First, the team processes identified across the three family firms are very similar with the exception of owners’ involvement and on-the-job training. All three family firms’ NPD teams are managed in a highly hierarchical manner, with considerable emphasis placed on hierarchical ranking, cost-effectiveness, efficiency, practicability, and interpersonal harmony. Second, new products developed by CFBNPD teams are mostly incremental innovation or copycat innovation, while radical or original products are rare. In many ways, CFBNPD teams may not be the ideal incubators for innovation. This is because several aspects of their unique context can cast constraints on how they work and innovate, and thus limit the ratio of radical innovation. A multi-level review into the facilitators and inhibitors of creativity or innovation in CFBNPD teams is provided. The theoretical and practical implications of the findings and the limitations of the study are also addressed.

Opinion leaders' role in innovation diffusion:a simulation study

This study investigates the critical role that opinion leaders (or influentials) play in the adoption process of new products. Recent existing reseach evidence indicates a limited effect of opinion leaders on diffusion processes, yet these studies take into account merely the network position of opinion leaders without addressing their influential power. Empirical findings of our study show that opinion leaders, in addition to having a more central network position, possess more accurate knowledge about a product and tend to be less susceptible to norms and more innovative. Experiments that address these attributes, using an agent-based model, demonstrate that opinion leaders increase the speed of the information stream and the adoption process itself. Furthermore, they increase the maximum adoption percentage. These results indicate that targeting opinion leaders remains a valuable marketing strategy.

How HR can inspire the teamwork that allows innovation to flourish

Innovation is vital if organisations are to deal effectively with social and economic change. Yet few studies have looked at the relationship between teamworking and innovation – or, indeed, other organisational outcomes. Our research aimed to fill this gap by exploring the extent to which team-based working in small- and medium- sized manufacturing organisations predicted product innovation. The results show that levels of innovation are higher in organisations using work-based teams than in those with alternative structural arrangements. We also found that effective HRM practices, such as sophisticated selection, induction, appraisal, training and remuneration management, created an environment that allowed teams to excel. The study drew on a variety of sources, including data on organisational-level innovation gathered through a postal survey. Respondents gave estimates of the number of new or adapted products developed in the past two years. They also detailed the percentage of production workers involved in making the new products; sales turnover accounted for by these products; and how far production processes had been changed to accommodate the innovations. We measured HRM effectiveness and the extent of teamworking via interviews with the relevant HR or production manager. We then rated each organisation on a scale of one to five, according to how effective its HRM practices were. We also examined the percentage of staff at management and shopfloor levels engaged in teamworking. The research design was longitudinal, in that the data on product innovation was collected six months to a year after the main questionnaire on teamworking was conducted. Other studies addressing these questions have tended to be cross-sectional, measuring both variables at the same time. Longitudinal studies generally make a stronger case for causality. Perhaps of most theoretical significance is the finding that teamworking combined with effective HR systems explains more of the variance for product innovation than teamworking alone. This is in line with J Richard Hackman (1990), who argued that organisational context affected team performance in various ways – for example, through offering a framework for the administration of reward and the exchange of knowledge and through promoting learning-oriented beliefs. Our work supports these ideas. This study also has practical implications. Increasing the number of teams may be an important step in determining the extent to which they can innovate on a sustained basis. Organisations should therefore consider what HRM practices are most likely to foster team innovation. They might, for example, explore how helpful it would be to develop team-based appraisal and better designed teamworking training. Developing support structures that enable teams to achieve outstanding performance may present a challenge, but our results suggest that such an approach will be worth the effort. Key points: • The greater the percentage of staff working in teams, the higher the level of innovation. • This applies to both management and production teams. • Where sophisticated and effective HRM practices are in place, the relationship between team-based working and product innovation becomes more pronounced. • Both cross-sectional and longitudinal analyses show strong relationships between team-based working and product innovation.

Towards agility in design in global component-based development

The potential benefits of implementing Component-Based Development (CBD) methodologies in a globally distributed environment are many. Lessons from the aeronautics, automotive, electronics and computer hardware industries, in which Component-Based (CB) architectures have been successfully employed for setting up globally distributed design and production activities, have consistently shown that firms have managed to increase the rate of reused components and sub-assemblies, and to speed up the design and production process of new products.

Who you are or whom you know? Consumption interdependences in social networks

This paper presents an analysis of whether a consumer's decision to switch from one mobile phone provider to another is driven by individual consumer characteristics or by actions of other consumers in her social network. Such consumption interdependences are estimated using a unique dataset, which contains transaction data based on anonymized call records from a large European mobile phone carrier to approximate a consumer's social network. Results show that network effects have an important impact on consumers' switching decisions: switching decisions are interdependent between consumers who interact with each other and this interdependence increases in the closeness between two consumers as measured by the calling data. In other words, if a subscriber switches carriers, she is also affecting the switching probabilities of other individuals in her social circle. The paper argues that such an approach is of high relevance to both switching of providers and to the adoption of new products. © 2013 Copyright Taylor and Francis Group, LLC.

Editorial

Full text: There are phrases in daily use today which were not so common a decade or so back, such as ‘ageing population’ or ‘climate changes’ or ‘emerging markets’ or even ‘social networking’. How do these things affect our lives is certainly interesting but for us as eye care practitioners how these changes affect our clinical work may be also relevant and sometimes more interesting. A recent advertisement for recruitment to the Royal Marine Corps of the British Army ended with a comment ‘find us on Facebook!’ The BCLA, IACLE and other organisations as well as many manufacturers have their own Facebook groups. In 2011 Chandni Thakkar was awarded the BCLA summer studentship and her project was based around increasing the contact lens business of a small independent optometric practice where contact lens sales were minimal. The practice typically recruited one new wearer per month. Chandni was able to increase the number of new patient fits with various strategies (her work was presented as poster at the 2012 BCLA conference in Birmingham). One of her strategies was to start a Facebook group and 655 joined the special group she started in just over a month. Interestingly she found that the largest single factor in convincing patients to trial contact lenses was recommendation by the eye care practitioner at the end of the examination, but nonetheless it is interesting that so many people used the social networking site to find out more information regarding contact lenses in her study. Moreover, we already see the use, by some practitioners, of smart phone ‘apps’ or electronic diaries or text messages when coordinating patient check-ups. Climate change has affected the way we think and act; we now leave out special recycle bins and we hope that the items that are recyclable are actually recycled and do not just join our other refuse somewhere down the track! How environmentally friendly are contact lenses? This was discussed by various speakers at this year's BCLA conference in Birmingham. Daily disposable lenses surely produce more contact lens waste but do not involve solutions in plastic bottles like monthly lenses. It is certainly something that manufacturers are taking seriously and of course there are environmental benefits but the cynic in each of us sees the marketing potential too. The way the ageing population is certainly something that will impact all healthcare providers. In the case of eye care with people living longer they will need refractive corrections for longer. Furthermore, since presbyopes are not resigning themselves to only gentle hobbies like knitting and gardening, but instead want to continue playing tennis or skiing or whatever, their visual demands are becoming more complex. This is certainly an area that contact lens manufacturers are focussing on (pun not intended!). Again the BCLA conference in Birmingham saw the launch of various new products by different companies to help us deal with our presbyopic contact lens wearers. It is great to have such choice and now with fitting methods becoming easier too we have no excuse not to try them out with our clients. Finally to emerging markets – well there was not a specific session at the BCLA conference in May discussing this but this most certainly would have been discussed by professional services managers and marketing directors of most of the contact lens companies. ‘How will we conquer China?’ ‘How can we increase our market share in Russia?’ Or ‘How should we spend our marketing budget in India?’ These topics as well as others would certainly have cropped up in backroom discussions. Certainly groups like IACLE (International Association of CL Educators) have increasing numbers of members and activities in developing markets to ensure that educators educate, to that practitioners can practice successfully and in turn patients can become successful contact lenses wearers. Companies also wish to increase their market share in these developing markets and from the point of view of CLAE we are certainly seeing more papers being submitted from these parts of the world. The traditional centres of knowledge are being challenged, I suppose as they have been throughout history, and this can only be a good thing for the pursuit of science. The BCLA conference in Birmingham welcomed more international visitors than ever, and from more countries, and long may that continue. Similarly, CLAE looks forward to a wider audience in years to come and a wider network of authors too.

Alternative mechanisms guiding salespersons’ ambidextrous product selling

Ambidextrous product-selling strategies, in which companies’ salespeople concurrently pursue the sale of existing and new products, are hard to implement. Previous studies have addressed this issue for relatively simple consumer settings with the manager in close proximity to the salespersons and focusing on different levels of control and autonomy to resolve this issue. However, little is known about how field salespeople can be influenced to pursue such dual goals proactively for more complex business-to-business products. In this study, the authors distinguish between salespeople’s proactive selling behaviour for new and existing products, and study the impact of two alternative mechanisms: a situational mechanism (i.e. perceived manager product-selling ambidexterity) and a structural mechanism (i.e. salesperson organizational identification). Using a time-lagged, multisource data set from a large ambidextrous company, the authors demonstrate that both mechanisms contribute to salespeople’s proactive selling of new and existing products, but also act as each other’s substitutes. The results suggest two most likely strategies for salespeople to obtain overall sales targets: focusing on existing product selling; or acting ambidextrously. The latter approach offers the benefits of better achieving ambidextrous company sales goals and of greater performance stability, and is thus preferred.

A magyarországi vállalatok K+F és innovációs teljesítménye = Innovation performance of the Hungarian firms

A tanulmány ökonometriai módszerekkel vizsgálja a magyarországi közép- és nagyvállalatok innovációs tevékenységét az EU-csatlakozást közvetlenül megelőző években. Fő megállapításai közé tartozik, hogy a vállalatmérettel nő az innovációs aktivitás valószínűsége; a külföldi tulajdonú cégek meghatározó szerepet töltenek be a termék- és technológiamegújításban; exportunkban csekély az aránya a magas újdonságtartalmú, K+F igényes termékeknek. Az állami támogatás segítette a termék- és technológiai megújulást. A tanulmány a IX. Ipar és Vállalatgazdasági konferencián elhangzott előadás átdolgozott változata (Kiss, 2008). = Based on logit econometrics we explore the innovation activities of the Hungarian manufacturing firms between 2001-2003. Our results suggest that the large and the foreign owned firms are the most innovative, while the export-oriented firms are less innovative. Government subsidies of innovation help the introduction of new products and processes.

Innováció és dinamizmus. Kölcsönhatás a rendszerek és a technikai haladás között = Innovation and dynamism. Reciprocal effect between systems and technical advance

A posztszocialista átalakulással foglalkozó irodalom rendszerint az átmenet politikai, gazdasági és társadalmi oldalával foglalkozik, holott az elmúlt húsz évben fontos változások mentek végbe a technikai haladás terén is. A kapitalizmus egyik fő erénye a dinamizmus, a vállalkozás, az innovációs folyamat erős ösztönzése. Valamennyi (polgári célokra használt) forradalmian új terméket a kapitalista rendszer hozta létre, a szocialista rendszer legfeljebb katonai rendeltetésű új termékekkel tudott előállni. A cikk azt elemzi, hogy mennyiben magyarázható ez a mélyreható különbség a két rendszer veleszületett hajlamaival, alapvető tulajdonságaival. Az új termékek térhódítása (köztük a számítógép, a mobiltelefon, az internet, az információs-kommunikációs szféra radikális átalakulása) megváltoztatta az emberek mindennapi életét. Miközben sokan mindezt kedvező változásként élik meg, nem vesznek tudomást a kapitalista rendszer és a gyors technikai haladás közötti okozati összefüggésről. A kapitalizmusnak e fontos erényét a mikroökonómia szokványos oktatása sem világítja meg a diákok számára, és nem kap kellő hangsúlyt a vezető politikusok megnyilvánulásaiban sem. _________________ Literature on post-socialist transformation usually deals with the political, economic and social sides of it, although there have also been important changes in the field of technical advance in the last twenty years. One of capitalisms main virtues is the strong incentive it gives to dynamism, enterprise and the innovation process. Every revolutionary new prodŹuct (for civilian use) has been brought about by the capitalist system. The socialist system was capable at most of developing new military products. The article analyses how far this radical difference can be explained by the innate tendencies and basis attributes of the two systems. Our daily lives have been transformed by these new products (for instance, the sphere of information and communications by the computer, the mobile phone and the internet). While many people see all these as favourable changes, fewer discern the causal relation between the capitalist system and rapid technical progress. Yet the usual syllabus of microeconomics does not enlighten students on this important virtue of capitalism, which is not adequately emphasized in the statements of leading politicians either.

Bizonytalanság, stratégia és teljesítmény – Kvalitatív kutatás innovatív kis- és középvállalatok vezetői körében (Uncertainty, strategy and performance – Qualitative research in innovative SMEs)

A szerző kvalitatív kutatási módszerekkel vizsgálja a kis- és középvállalatok (kkv-k) innovatív tevékenységeinek korlátait és lehetőségeit. A vizsgálat tárgyai (legalább) Magyarország szintjén új terméket vagy szolgáltatást nyújtó kkv-k, melyek határozott növekedési szándékkal rendelkeznek. Az eredmények egységes vizsgálati keretben, 41 vezető véleménye alapján születtek meg, három területre fókuszálva: (1) a környezeti bizonytalanság megítélése, (2) a szervezet követett stratégiája, kettős képessége, kiaknázó és felderítő tevékenysége, és (3) a versenyképes teljesítménycélok, konfigurációk. A cikk a kutatás lépéseit részletesen bemutatja, fontos eredményének tekinthető, hogy rámutat arra, hogy a kutatási és fejlesztési, valamint az innovatív tevékenységek legfontosabb gátja leginkább a vezetési és szervezési képességek és a stratégiai gondolkodás hiányára vezethető vissza a kis- és középvállalkozásokban. ______ The author conducted a qualitative research on the innovation potential of small and medium size enterprises (SMEs). SMEs with new products and services and with growth orientation are in the focus of the research. The standardized research design is based on 41 owner managers’ responses. It is focusing on 3 main areas: (1) environmental uncertainty, (2) the strategy followed by the organization, its ambidextrous capability, exploitative and explorative behavior, and (3) competitive performance and configurations. The paper describes a qualitative research design in detail. The main finding of the research is that the lack of managerial skills and strategic thinking inhibit SMEs to conduct innovation as well as to engage in research and development activities.

Trust - Networking - Innovation

From innovation point of view the agri-food industry is seen as matured branch of the economy, where revolutionary new products and processes are very rare. Especially the SMEs are in squeezing situation: they have to fit very sharp prerequisites and demands on one side and very much constrained resources to give them power in order to formulate appropriate answers on the other side. They are looking for partners beyond the boundaries of their organization, mainly with other firms, universities, research organisations and government agencies. Adopting an effective innovation process to successfully introduce and develop new products to the market has become one of the most important strategies for food companies. The innovation dimension of networking activity contributes to growing network complexity, which in turn also affects the nature of traditional governance structure. Trust and other relational factors are playing an increasing role in these structures. Our research interest is whether the trust as coordination form of governance structure plays significant role in the Hungarian agri-food industry. Empirical data was drawn from a survey carried out in Central Hungary and aiming at the research of cooperation and knowledge management within the SMEs of the food economy. Structural Equation Modelling (SEM) is applied in order to determine the relationship among the three (Trust, Networking, Innovation) latent factors. We have found that trust plays significant positive role in increasing networking activity and innovation, but the extent of it is less than expected.

Stratégiai paradigmaváltás szervezeti verseny(képesség) és az Operations management központi szerepe (Central role of strategic paradigm change, corporate competitiveness and operations management)

Az elmúlt két évtized folyamán a menedzserek megtanultak a megújult szabályok szerint játszani. Tudatosították, hogy a vállalatuk eredményes navigálásához folyamatosan figyelniük és adaptálniuk kell a legújabb módszereket, elméleteket. Jelen tanulmányával a szerző ezt a folyamatot kívánja segíteni, valamint arra az alapvető kérdésre keresi a választ, hogy érdemes-e a rendkívül gyorsan változó világban hosszabb távú célok meghatározásával foglalkozni, és ha igen, akkor mire összpontosítsák a vállalatok erőfeszítéseiket. Milyen részletezettséggel, milyen módon határozzák meg az elképzeléseiket úgy, hogy közben megőrizzék a vállalat flexibilitását, a változások idején nélkülözhetetlen agilitást. A szerző arra vállalkozik, hogy feltárja a stratégiai paradigmaváltás fejlődését, a termelési stratégia, az operations management központi meghatározó szereppé válását, valamint áttekintse a termelési és szolgáltatási rendszervezetés (OM) elveinek, eszközeinek, módszereinek fejlődését, kölcsönhatását, összefüggéseit. _______ Change of paradigm has taken place in strategic planning. Fight for position turned into a fight of movement. Companies strive to achieve individual, not copyable organizational performance, as well as to realize their business strategies by means of value generating, proactive approach. Operative management now placed in the focus of production strategy is becoming the compass, the driving force of leadership. The management of production and service systems has grown into independent scientific disciplines. It yielded such principles, tools and methods which are present as world-renowned blueprints (scientific tools) in the field of maintaining and developing corporate performance. In the present study the author specifies and discusses the tools of operative management as criteria of value generation aiming at quality and cost efficiency. He analyses the backto- back character, interrelationship of quality, TQM (Total Quality Management), TPS (Toyota Production System) and JIT (Just in Time). He examines the effects thereof on corporate performance where significant and strong relationship can be demonstrated in case there is an ability to plan and develop new products. The current new OM (Operations Management) techniques increasingly rely upon the quality of human resources, the permanent improvement of procedures as well as focusing on tight cooperation with suppliers/customers. Supply chain management, core competence management, service management now represent a “new generation” of the OM methods, processes, serving at the same time as basis and starting point for expectable future techniques as well.

Prospecção tecnológica para geração de energia eólica

The acceleration of technological change and the process of globalization has intensified competition and the need for new products (goods and services), resulting in growing concern for organizations in the development of technological, economic and social advances. This work presents an overview of the development of wind energy-related technologies and design trends. To conduct this research, it is (i) a literature review on technological innovation, technological forecasting methods and fundamentals of wind power; (ii) the analysis of patents, with the current technology landscape studied by means of finding information in patent databases; and (iii) the preparation of the map of technological development and construction of wind turbines of the future trend information from the literature and news from the sector studied. Step (ii) allowed the study of 25 644 patents between the years 2003-2012, in which the US and China lead the ranking of depositors and the American company General Electric and the Japanese Mitsubishi stand as the largest holder of wind technology. Step (iii) analyzed and identified that most of the innovations presented in the technological evolution of wind power are incremental product innovations to market. The proposed future trends shows that the future wind turbines tend to have a horizontal synchronous shaft, which with the highest diameter of 194m and 164m rotor nacelle top, the top having 7,5MW generation. The materials used for the blades are new materials with characteristics of low density and high strength. The towers are trend with hybrid materials, uniting the steel to the concrete. This work tries to cover the existing gap in the gym on the use of technological forecasting techniques for the wind energy industry, through the recognition that utilize the patent analysis, analysis of scientific articles and stories of the area, provide knowledge about the industry and influencing the quality of investment decisions in R & D and hence improves the efficiency and effectiveness of wind power generation

Avaliação do potencial das fibras de Ceiba Pentandra (Kapok) e Calotropis Procera como adsorventes de petróleo

On the basis of human evolution and the population increase was necessary, the emergence of new sources of energy, the development of new products and technologies. One such product, object of the industry revolution and of great importance to the development of humanity is the oil, a substance composed primarily of hydrocarbons which give rise to several other products as fuels, lubricants, polymers, solvents, cooking gas, asphalt for roads, fertilizers, medicines, paints, among other. However, mishandling this product may cause leaks and spills that generate huge damages to the environment and the economy. Soon, with the purpose of contributing to decrease is problematic, in this master's work was carried out an intensive search of the possible potential of the fibers of Ceiba pentandra (L.) "Kapok" and Calotropis Procera as bioadsorbents of petroleum in water. The choice of these fibers is due to surface properties such as oleophylics and hydrophobic, their buoyancy and yet, being biodegradable natural polymers derived from the Brazilian Northeast. This research was used experimental planning with response surface methodology (RSM) with the software Design Expert. The results were statistically efficient, obtaining a R2= 0.9995 for Calotropis Procera and a R2= 0.9993 for Kapok. And that, both fibers showed adsorption efficiency, removing more than 80% petroleum in water static and dynamic state.