Strategic decision-making for technology implementation in developing countries

Researchers and managers stress the importance of long-term technology strategies to develop technological capabilities for global competitive advantage. This paper explores the relationship between technology decision-making and strategy in technology transfer (TT) in developing countries, with special reference to South Africa. Earlier research by the authors considered technology and operations integration in developing countries and identified factors that were important to managers in the management of technology. The paper proposes five decision-making levels as the basis of a framework for TT, and investigates the strategic issues pertaining to TT at these levels. Four South African cases studies are used to propose a framework that combines important items in technology transfer and levels of decision-making. The research suggests that technology plays a limited role in strategic decisions in developing countries, and that expectations from new technology are largely operational. Broader implications for managers are identified.

The effects of the menstrual cycle on social decision making

The cyclic change in hormonal profiles between the two main phases of the menstrual cycle mediate shifts in mate preference. Males who advertise social dominance are preferred over other men by females in the follicular phase of the cycle. The present study explored assignment of high or low status resources to dominant looking men by females in either phase of the menstrual cycle. Thirteen females who reported that they were free from any kind of hormonal intervention and experienced a 28 day cycle, were invited to participate in a mock job negotiation scenario. Participants were asked to assign either a minimum, low, high or maximum social status job package to a series of male 'employees' that were previously rated to look either dominant or non-dominant. The results showed that during the follicular phase of the cycle participants assigned dominant looking men more high status job resources than the non-dominant looking men. However, during the luteal phase the participants assigned low status resources to the non-dominant looking men. Females are not merely passive observers of male status cues but actively manipulate the environment to assign status. © 2006 Elsevier B.V. All rights reserved.

Decision support system for inspection and maintenance:a case of oil pipelines

The existing method of pipeline health monitoring, which requires an entire pipeline to be inspected periodically, is unproductive. A risk-based decision support system (DSS) that reduces the amount of time spent on inspection has been presented. The risk-based DSS uses the analytic hierarchy process (AHP), a multiple attribute decision-making technique, to identify the factors that influence failure on specific segments and analyzes their effects by determining probability of occurrence of these risk factors. The severity of failure is determined through consequence analysis. From this, the effect of a failure caused by each risk factor can be established in terms of cost and the cumulative effect of failure is determined through probability analysis. The model optimizes the cost of pipeline operations by reducing subjectivity in selecting a specific inspection method, identifying and prioritizing the right pipeline segment for inspection and maintenance, deriving budget allocation, providing guidance to deploy the right mix labor for inspection and maintenance, planning emergency preparation, and deriving logical insurance plan. The proposed methodology also helps derive inspection and maintenance policy for the entire pipeline system, suggest design, operational philosophy, and construction methodology for new pipelines.