Manufacturing technology sourcing practices in the USA

Some companies are heavily reliant on the capabilities of their manufacturing technology for product competitiveness. Likewise, the capabilities of a manufacturing technology are dependent on the sourcing policy that the host company practices. This paper describes research that has explored a wide variety of US companies to understand manufacturing technology sourcing policies and how they have been formed. This research finds that there is a preference amongst the US organizations studied not to become involved with equipment manufacture, though some examples of full integration do occur. These policies are not determined by formalized decision processes, rather they are formed implicitly during technology choice. In this research, factors that influence a technology source have been identified. These drivers are then used to establish a methodology that will help practising managers to form a technology sourcing decision. This methodology takes into account the business demands placed on a technology, along with the characteristics of the host company's supplier base.

Heritage and innovative learning approaches:an alternative approach to engineering education

Over recent years, the role of engineering in promoting a sustainable society has received much public attention [1] with particular emphasis given to the need to promote the future prosperity and security of society through the recruitment and education of more engineers [2,3]. From an employment perspective, the Leitch Review [4] suggested that ‘generic’ transferable employability skills development should constitute a more substantial part of university education. This paper argues that the global drivers impacting engineering education [5] correlate strongly to those underpinning the Leitch review, therefore the question of how to promote transferable employability skills within the wider engineering curriculum is increasingly relevant. By exploring the use of heritage in the engineering curriculum as a way to promote learning and engage students, a less familiar approach to study is discussed. This approach moves away from stereotypical notions of the use of information technology as representing the pinnacle of innovation in education. Taking the student experience as its starting point, the paper draws upon the findings of an exploratory study critically analysing the pedagogical value of using heritage in engineering education. It discusses a teaching approach in which engineering students are taken out of their ‘comfort zone’ - away from the classroom, laboratory and computer, to a heritage site some 100 miles away from the university. The primary learning objective underpinning this approach is to develop students’ transferable skills by encouraging them to consider how to apply theoretical concepts to a previously unexplored situation. By reflecting upon students’ perceptions of the value of this approach, and by identifying how heritage may be utilised as an innovative learning and teaching approach in engineering education, this paper makes a notable contribution to current pedagogical debates in the discipline.

Productivity in China's high technology industry:regional heterogeneity and R&D

This paper analyzes the impact of Research and Development (R&D) on the productivity of China's high technology industry. In order to capture important differences in the effect of R&D on output that arise from geographic and socioeconomic differences across three major regions in China, we use a novel semiparametric approach that allows us to model heterogeneities across provinces and time. Using a unique provincial level panel dataset spanning the period 2000–2007, we find that the impact of R&D on output varies substantially in terms of magnitude and significance across different regions. Results show that the eastern region benefits the most from R&D investments, however it benefits the least from technical progress, while the western region benefits the least from R&D investments, but enjoys the highest benefits from technical progress. The central region benefits from R&D investments more than the western region and benefits from technical progress more than the eastern region. Our results suggest that R&D investments would significantly increase output in both the eastern and central regions, however technical progress in the central region may further compound the effects of R&D on output within the region.