Improving productivity - Opening the black box

Hourly productivity levels in the UK still remain behind those in some competitor countries. The government devotes much policy attention to enhancing productivity and continues to emphasise its five drivers - investment, innovation, skills, enterprise, and competition. This article argues that it is investment broadly defined that is the key to sustained productivity improvement. The emphasis should be on improving productivity simultaneously with improving the quality of production. Only thus will the gains be widely shared. In achieving these aims there are two prerequisites for policy-makers. The first is to ensure better coordination of policy than appears to be currently achieved by the present departmental structures in Whitehall. The second is to recognize fully the long and complex chain of causation that can be triggered by pulling on one policy lever. Such complexity can only be fully understood by more research on what actually goes on inside the black box of the organization. © 2006 Oxford University Press.

Exploring the financial consequences of the servitization of manufacturing

Commentators suggest that to survive in developed economies manufacturing firms have to move up the value chain, innovating and creating ever more sophisticated products and services, so they do not have to compete on the basis of cost. While this strategy is proving increasingly popular with policy makers and academics there is limited empirical evidence to explore the extent to which it is being adopted in practice. And if so, what the impact of this servitization of manufacturing might be. This paper seeks to fill a gap in the literature by presenting empirical evidence on the range and extent of servitization. Data are drawn from the OSIRIS database on 10,028 firms incorporated in 25 different countries. The paper presents an analysis of these data which suggests that: [i] manufacturing firms in developed economies are adopting a range of servitization strategies-12 separate approaches to servitization are identified; [ii] these 12 categories can be used to extend the traditional three options for servitization-product oriented Product-Service Systems, use oriented Product-Service Systems and result oriented Product-Service Systems, by adding two new categories "integration oriented Product-Service Systems" and "service oriented Product-Service Systems"; [iii] while the manufacturing firms that have servitized are larger than traditional manufacturing firms in terms of sales revenues, at the aggregate level they also generate lower profits as a % of sales; [iv] these findings are moderated by firm size (measured in terms of numbers of employees). In smaller firms servitization appears to pay off while in larger firms it proves more problematic; and [v] there are some hidden risks associated with servitization-the sample contains a greater proportion of bankrupt servitized firms than would be expected. © Springer Science + Business Media, LLC 2009.

The value of cooperatives in rural electrification

The electricity sectors of many developing countries underwent substantial reforms during the 1980s and 1990s, driven by global agendas of privatization and liberalization. However, rural electrification offered little by way of market incentives for profit-seeking private companies and was often neglected. As a consequence, delivery models for rural electrification need to change. This paper will review the experiences of various rural electrification delivery models that have been established in developing countries, including concessionary models, dealership approaches and the strengthening of small and medium-sized energy businesses. It will use examples from the USA, Bangladesh and Nepal, together with a detailed case study of a Nepali rural electric cooperative, to explore the role that local cooperatives can play in extending electricity access. It is shown that although there is no magic bullet solution to deliver rural electrification, if offered appropriate financial and institutional support, socially orientated cooperative businesses can be a willing, efficient and effective means of extending and managing rural electricity services. It is expected that this paper will be of particular value to policy-makers, donors, project planners and implementers currently working in the field of rural electrification. © 2010 Elsevier Ltd.

Entrepreneurial innovation problems associated with the dynamic growth of university spin-outs in China: A capabilities perspective

This research aims to develop a capabilities-based conceptual framework in order to study the stage-specific innovation problems associated with the dynamic growth process of university spin-outs (hereafter referred to as USOs) in China. Based on the existing literature, pilot cases and five critical cases, this study attempts to explore the interconnections between the entrepreneurial innovation problems and the configuration of innovative capabilities (that acquire, mobilise and re-configure the key resources) throughout the lifecycle of a firm in four growth phases. This paper aims to contribute to the literature in a holistic manner by providing a theoretical discussion of USOs' development through adding evidence from a rapid growth emerging economy. To date, studies that have investigated the development of USOs in China recognised the heterogeneity of USOs in terms of capabilities still remain sparse. Addressing this research gap will be of great interest to entrepreneurs, policy makers and venture investors. © Copyright 2010 Inderscience Enterprises Ltd.

Managing water resources and their connection to land and energy

Effective management is a key to ensuring the current and future sustainability of land, water and energy resources. Identifying the complexities of such management is not an easy task, especially since past studies have focussed on studying these resources in isolation from one another. However, with rapid population growth and an increase in the awareness of a potential change in climatic conditions that may affect the demand for and supply of food, water and energy, there has been a growing need to integrate the planning decisions relating to these three resources. The paper shows the visualisation of linked resources by drawing a set of interconnected Sankey diagrams for energy, water and land. These track the changes from basic resource (e.g. coal, surface water, groundwater and cropland) through transformations (e.g. fuel refining and desalination) to final services (e.g. sustenance, hygiene and transportation). The focus here is on the water analysis aspects of the tool, which uses California as a detailed case study. The movement of water in California is traced from its source to its services by mapping the different transformations of water from when it becomes available, through its use, to further treatment, to final sinks (including recycling and reuse of that resource). The connections that water has with energy and land resources for the state of California are highlighted. This includes the amount of energy used to pump and treat water, and the amount of water used for energy production and the land resources which create a water demand to produce crops for food. By mapping water in this way, policy-makers and resource managers can more easily understand the competing uses of water (environment, agriculture and urban use) through the identification of the services it delivers (e.g. sanitation, agriculture, landscaping), the potential opportunities for improving the management of the resource (e.g. building new desalination plants, reducing the demand for services), and the connections with other resources which are often overlooked in a traditional sector-based management strategy.

Closing the Energy Efficiency Gap: A study linking demographics with barriers to adopting energy efficiency measures in the home

This paper presents a study which linked demographic variables with barriers affecting the adoption of domestic energy efficiency measures in large UK cities. The aim was to better understand the 'Energy Efficiency Gap' and improve the effectiveness of future energy efficiency initiatives. The data for this study was collected from 198 general population interviews (1.5-10 min) carried out across multiple locations in Manchester and Cardiff. The demographic variables were statistically linked to the identified barriers using a modified chi-square test of association (first order Rao-Scott corrected to compensate for multiple response data), and the effect size was estimated with an odds-ratio test. The results revealed that strong associations exist between demographics and barriers, specifically for the following variables: sex; marital status; education level; type of dwelling; number of occupants in household; residence (rent/own); and location (Manchester/Cardiff). The results and recommendations were aimed at city policy makers, local councils, and members of the construction/retrofit industry who are all working to improve the energy efficiency of the domestic built environment. © 2012 Elsevier Ltd.

Market-pull and technology-push in manufacturing start-ups in emerging industries

Purpose - As traditional manufacturing, previously vital to the UK economy, is increasingly outsourced to lower-cost locations, policy makers seek leadership in emerging industries by encouraging innovative start-up firms to pursue competitive opportunities. Emerging industries can either be those where a technology exists but the corresponding downstream value chain is unclear, or a new technology may subvert the existing value chain to satisfy existing customer needs. Hence, this area shows evidence of both technology-push and market-pull forces. The purpose of this paper is to focus on market-pull and technology-push orientations in manufacturing ventures, specifically examining how and why this orientation shifts during the firm's formative years. Design/methodology/approach - A multiple case study approach of 25 UK start-ups in emerging industries is used to examine this seldom explored area. The authors offer two models of dynamic business-orientation in start-ups and explain the common reasons for shifts in orientation and why these two orientations do not generally co-exist during early firm development. Findings - Separate evolution paths were found for strategic orientation in manufacturing start-ups and separate reasons for them to shift in their early development. Technology-push start-ups often changed to a market-pull orientation because of new partners, new market information or shift in management priorities. In contrast, many of the start-ups beginning with a market-pull orientation shifted to a technology-push orientation because early market experiences necessitated a focus on improving processes in order to increase productivity or meet partner specifications, or meet a demand for complementary products. Originality/value - While a significant body of work exists regarding manufacturing strategy in established firms, little work has been found that investigates how manufacturing strategy emerges in start-up companies, particularly those in emerging industries. © Emerald Group Publishing Limited.

Embodied energy and gas emission of geotechnical infrastructure

Construction of geotechnical structures produces various environmental impacts. These include depletion of limited natural resources, generation of wastes and harmful substances during material productions and construction, ineffective usage of energy during processing of raw materials into construction materials, and emissions of unwanted gasses during transportation of materials and usage of equipments. With increasing interests in sustainability at the global scale, there is a need to develop a methodology that can assess environmental impacts at such scale for geotechnical construction. Using embodied energy and gas emission, quantitative measures of environmental impact are evaluated using a case study of a new high speed railway line construction in the UK. Based on the results, the keys to energy savings are (a) to optimise the usage of materials with high embodied energy intensity value (b) to optimise the transportation network and logistics for processes using primarily low embodied energy intensity materials and (c) to reuse as much materials on-site as possible to minimise the quantity of spoils or distance to disposal sites. The evaluated embodied energy and embodied carbon values are compared to those of other types of structures and of other activities and carbon tax values. Such comparisons can be used to discuss among various interested parties (clients, contractors, consultants, policy makers, etc) to make the construction industry more energy efficient. © Springer Science+Business Media B.V. 2011.

Visualising a stochastic model of California Water Resources Using Sankey Diagrams

This paper describes a novel approach to the analysis of supply and demand of water in California. A stochastic model is developed to assess the future supply of and demand for water resources in California. The results are presented in the form of a Sankey diagram where present and stochastically-varying future fluxes of water in California and its sub-regions are traced from source to services by mapping the various transformations of water from when it is first made available for use, through its treatment, recycling and reuse, to its eventual loss in a variety of sinks. This helps to highlight the connections of water with energy and land resources, including the amount of energy used to pump and treat water, the amount of water used for energy production, and the land resources that create a water demand to produce crops for food. By mapping water in this way, policy-makers can more easily understand the competing uses of water, through the identification of the services it delivers (e.g. sanitation, food production, landscaping), the potential opportunities for improving themanagement of the resource and the connections with other resources which are often overlooked in a traditional sector-based management strategy. This paper focuses on a Sankey diagram for water, but the ultimate aim is the visualisation of linked resource futures through inter-connected Sankey diagrams for energy, land and water, tracking changes from the basic resources for all three, their transformations, and the final services they provide.

Measuring design investment in firms: Conceptual foundations and exploratory UK survey

The importance of design to company and national performance has been widely discussed, with a number of studies investigating the value or impact of design on performance. However, none of these studies has measured design investment as an input against which performance can be compared. As yet, there is no established way in which design investment might be measured. Without such a method, we cannot develop a reliable picture, akin to that for R&D spending, on the impact of design spending on company performance. This paper presents a conceptual framework for the measurement of design investment and applies this framework in a survey of UK firms. The framework describes design as being part of the creation and commercialization of new products and services. The survey highlights some surprising patterns of design spend in the reported sample and demonstrates the viability of the underpinning framework. A revised framework is proposed that situates design investment in the context of R&D. The model has implications for policy makers trying to understand the role and scale of design in the private sector, for managers wishing to optimize their design investments and for academics seeking to measure the value of design. © 2013 Published by Elsevier B.V.

Production planning of multi-stage multi-option seru production systems with sustainable measures

With the concerns over climate change and the escalation in worldwide population, sustainable development attracts more and more attention of academia, policy makers, and businesses in countries. Sustainable manufacturing is an inextricable measure to achieve sustainable development since manufacturing is one of the main energy consumers and greenhouse gas contributors. In the previous researches on production planning of manufacturing systems, environmental factor was rarely considered. This paper investigates the production planning problem under the performance measures of economy and environment with respect to seru production systems, a new manufacturing system praised as Double E (ecology and economy) in Japanese manufacturing industries. We propose a mathematical model with two objectives minimizing carbon dioxide emission and makespan for processing all product types by a seru production system. To solve this mathematical model, we develop an algorithm based on the non-dominated sorting genetic algorithm II. The computation results and analysis of three numeral examples confirm the effectiveness of our proposed algorithm. © 2014 Elsevier Ltd. All rights reserved.

Building global products and competing in innovation: The role of chinese university spin-outs and required innovation capabilities

Usually, firms that produce innovative global products are discussed within the context of developed countries. New ventures in developing countries are typically viewed as low-cost product providers that generate technologically similar products to those produced by developed economies. However, this paper argues that some Chinese university spin-outs (USOs), although rare, have adopted a novel 'catch-up' strategy to build global products on the basis of indigenous platform technologies. This paper attempts to develop a conceptual framework to address the question: how do these specific Chinese USOs develop their innovation capabilities to build global products? In order to explore the idiosyncrasies of the specific USOs, this paper uses the multiple case studies method. The primary data sources are accessed through semi-structured interviews. In addition, archival data and other materials are used as secondary sources. The study analyses the configuration of capabilities that are needed for idiosyncratic growth, and maps them to the globalisation processes. This paper provides a strategic 'roadmap' as an explanatory guide to entrepreneurs, policy makers and investors to better understand the phenomena. © 2014 Inderscience Enterprises Ltd.

Climate change, sea level rise and integrated coastal zone management: An IPCC approach

Expansion of economic activities, urbanisation, increased resource use and population growth are continuously increasing the vulnerability of the coastal zone. This vulnerability is now further raised by the threat of climate change and accelerated sea level rise. The potentially severe impacts force policy-makers to also consider long-term planning for climate change and sea level rise. For reasons of efficiency and effectiveness this long-term planning should be integrated with existing short-term plans, thus creating an Integrated Coastal Zone Management programme. As a starting point for coastal zone management, the assessment of a country's or region's vulnerability to accelerated sea level rise is of utmost importance. The Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change has developed a common methodology for this purpose. Studies carried out according to this Common Methodology have been compared and combined, from which general conclusions on local, regional and global vulnerability have been drawn, the latter in the form of a Global Vulnerability Assessment. In order to address the challenge of coping with climate change and accelerated sea level rise, it is essential to foresee the possible impacts, and to take precautionary action. Because of the long lead times needed for creating the required technical and institutional infrastructures, such action should be taken in the short term. Furthermore, it should be part of a broader coastal zone management and planning context. This will require a holistic view, shared by the different institutional levels that exist, along which different needs and interests should be balanced.

公共政策制定程序对政策可接受性的影响

This research addresses the problems of public policy-making procedures. In conducting our research, we considered public policy as the allocation or reallocation of interests or resources among different members of the public. Due to limited resources, administrations should trade off all interests among different segments of society when formulating a policy. Unfortunately, in recent years there have been several mass conflicts with administration of public policy. This infers that some people’s interests were ignored or harmed by certain policies. According to the theory of procedural justice, people may accept the unexpected result if they consider the procedure is just. This research hypothesizes that there are certain problems in current policy-making procedures and that improving these procedures may make policies more acceptable. A pilot study was conducted by interviewing ten scholars from a range of disciplines. The interview record transcripts were coded by three analysts. The results indicate that: 1) Most of the scholars criticized current public policies as lacking sensitivity to public issues; 2) Most of them considered that current public policies do not resolve problems effectively; and 3) They all considered that psychology research may enhance awareness of public issues and improve the effectiveness of policy. In study 2, the procedure of public policy was tracked and compared with a social survey. The Beijing government would like to increase the taxi fare rate to cope with the rising price of petroleum. Although the majority of delegates in a hearing of witnesses supported the policy consideration, the social survey of 186 residents and 63 taxi drivers indicated that both of them oppose the consideration. The findings indicate that the hearing of witnesses was not able to delegate the opinions of the public, resulting in the policy failing to resolve the problem. Study 3 was a nonequivalent control group quasi-experiment. Visitors of two Internet Website were chosen as subjects for original photo games. For the experiment group, visitors were invited to express their desires and suggestions on the game rules for one week, and then declare rules referencing the suggestions before starting the game. Meanwhile, the control group simply declared the rules at the beginning of the game. Compared with the two games during 23 days, the experiment group submitted more photos than the control group. The results of this research imply that, the good will of policy makers is not enough to make a policy effective. Surveys on public attitudes at the beginning of the policy-making process can allow policy makers to better determine public issues, assess the tradeoff of public interests, help ensure policies are more acceptable, and help foster a harmonious society. The authors of this research suggest that psychology research should take more social level problems into account in the policy-making process.

The Sales Process Practice of Food and Drink SMEs - A Holistic Conceptual Framework: Steps, dimensions, barriers and enablers.

Purpose –The research examines the sales process practised by SMEs, and barriers and enablers that hinder and support effective selling practices from the selling organisation’s perspective in Scottish-based Food and Drink firms. Design/methodology approach - – The paper adopts an interpretivist perspective with qualitative data gathered through face-to-face semi-structured interviews. 20 people involved in selling activities were interviewed from 15 SMEs across Scotland. Thematic analysis established key findings regarding the sales process practice. Findings – Five themes emerged that affect the operationalisation of the selling process: the owner manager has considerable involvement in the sales process, SMEs with some degree of sales knowledge take a more systematic approach, SMEs lack awareness of how CRM technology can assist them, power is tipped in favour of the buyer and, the geographic location of the SME places constraints on how SMEs conduct business Research limitation/implication – Thematic analysis was chosen over other more traditional methods due to the lack of relevant quantitative data. The phenomenon of the research and research methodology means that it will not be possible to repeat this study and replicate its findings. However, the process that has been adopted does provide a basis for future research. Originality/value - The paper identifies areas where future research is required in the field alongside suggestions where policy makers and government business agencies might focus intervention to assist SMEs improve delivery of the sales process and selling effectiveness