Emissions trading: a zero sum game? (article)
by Josh Fear
from Australia Institute, Online Opinion, 9 September 2009
"Some people, particularly firm believers in the Rudd Government's Carbon Pollution Reduction Scheme, ascribe almost magical powers to emissions trading, believing it can transform the moral as well as the economic basis of our society. The assumption behind the government's policy is that an issue as complex as climate change issue can be addressed via one simple instrument. The CPRS relies on changes in price, to the exclusion of all other factors, to bring about changes in behaviour. While price is important, it is by no means the only determinant of behaviour. Just as critical is the intrinsic urge to act in one way rather than another due to habit, personality or even the desire to make a difference."
2080: Energy and society (speech)
by Ian Lowe
from SlowTV
"Ian Lowe speaks about the future of global energy supplies. As he puts it, our society's heavy reliance on oil and other fossil fuels makes us vulnerable for both economic and environmental reasons. Without substantial and immediate moves to find new energy sources, the dwindling oil supplies will have a massive impact on how we live - and in the meantime they are doing great environmental damage. "
Solar research wrap (article)
from EcoGeneration Sept/Oct 2009
"Solar researchers around the nation are developing new ways to harness the sun's energy that will increase efficiency and lower materials costs. From flexible lightweight solar cells for defence and security, to new power storage solutions, EcoGeneration takes a look at some of the major solar research programs from around Australia."
Enterprise value: governance of IT investments - getting started with value management (article)
from The IT Governance Institute
"This document forms part of the IT Governance Institute’s (ITGI’s) Val ITTM initiative, which is dedicated to helping enterprises optimise the realisation of value from IT investments. Drawing on the collective experience of a global team of practitioners and academics, existing and emerging practices and methodologies, and a rapidly growing body of research, the initiative has resulted in the development of the Val IT framework. This is a governance framework that consists of a set of guiding principles and a number of processes conforming to those principles that are further defined as a set of key management practices."
Public support to private innovation in multi-level governance systems: an empirical investigation (journal article)
By Andrea Fernández-Ribas
from Science and Public Policy Vol 36 No 6 July 2009 , pp. 457-467
"This is an exploratory analysis of the distinct distributive nature of innovation programs by government levels. The research setting is a European region actively involved in regional, national, and supra-national (EU)-level programs. The results suggest that sub-national programs lead to changes in firms' attitudes towards product and process innovation. The impacts of national and supra-national programs are different: nationally supported firms are more likely to accelerate their path towards product (but not to process) innovations; supra-national supported businesses gain in greater sales due to incremental innovative products. From a policy perspective, the results suggest that lower levels of government could alleviate entry barriers into technological activities while upper-level programs improve the economic performance of pre-existing innovators."
The evolution of Norway's national innovation system (journal article)
By Jan Fagerberg, David C Mowery and Bart Verspagen
from Science and Public Policy Vol 36 No 6, July 2009 , pp. 431-444
"This paper analyses the co-evolution of science, technology and innovation policy and industrial structure in a small, open, resource-based economy (Norway). The contributions of the paper are threefold. First, it develops an evolutionary and historically oriented approach to the study of the development of these policies that may have wide applicability. Second, it focuses on a particular type of innovation, innovation in resource-based activities, that differs in many respects from the more commonly studied case of innovation in 'high-tech' industries. Third, the paper advances our understanding of the roles played by institutions and politics in innovation. Previous work on national systems of innovation has devoted little attention to these matters, possibly because much of this work examines 'snapshots' of various innovation systems at a specific point in time and lacks historical depth."
User and developer common knowledge: Effect on the success of information system development projects (journal article)
By Debbie Tesch
from International Journal of Project Management Vol. 27 Issue 7 Oct 2009, pp. 657-664
"Since Information Systems Development (ISD) project success is difficult to achieve and the literature has shown the relationship between IS developer skills and system success is mixed, this paper isolates and studies the knowledge shared by users and developers and its interaction with group solving practices that may lead to ISD project success. We evaluate developer’s knowledge of application domains and user knowledge of IS development along with the level of group problem solving among users and developers as related to the ultimate success of the project. A survey of 168 ISD professionals indicates that a combination of both user knowledge of IS development and IS developer knowledge of application domains had significant impact on successful project outcomes. The magnitude of this success is moderated by the level of group problem solving activities held by the project implementation teams. Up to a certain point, the more group problem solving interaction the more successful the project outcome. However, if knowledge redundancy is very high then exchange of knowledge is not so essential. "
Contact the Library for a copy of this article.
The Carbon Neutral Public Sector (journal article)
By Amanda Ball, Ian Mason, Suzana Grubnic and Phil Hughes
from Public Management Review Vol 11 Issue 5 Sept 2009, pp. 575 - 600
"This paper argues for research into the effectiveness of government strategies for a 'carbon neutral public sector'. We review initiatives in three OECD countries: New Zealand, Australia and the UK. In all jurisdictions, government agencies have consistently stressed 'leading by example' as a rationale for adoption. 'Direct mandate' by the Prime Minister (NZ); 'organic development' from wider central government sustainability initiatives (UK); and a more 'laissez faire' approach by Australian Federal and State Governments, were identified as the general pathways leading to implementation. Our assessment indicates: a lack of understanding of the implementation process for carbon neutrality; a need to identify and critically examine the 'offset threshold' at which mitigation efforts cease and offsetting is adopted; an absence of any evaluation of the 'leading by example' rationale; a lack of inter-country comparisons; a gap in understanding the relationship with economic and social aspects of sustainability; and a need to evaluate the utility of core government departments as the focus of carbon accounting. We urge colleagues to consider research in this area with a view to contributing to the interdisciplinary solutions which we believe are required."
Knowledge transfer processes in IT outsourcing relationships and their impact on shared knowledge and outsourcing performance (journal article)
By Stefan Blumenberg, Heinz-Theo Wagner and Daniel Beimborn
from International Journal of Information Management Vol. 29 Issue 5 Oct 2009, pp. 342-352
"What is the impact of specific knowledge-transfer processes on the level of shared knowledge and, in turn, on outsourcing performance in outsourcing relationships? Drawing on a series of case studies covering IT providers and banks, we investigate several applied knowledge-transfer processes dedicated to the transfer of explicit or tacit knowledge between outsourcing banks and their providers. We examine the differential influence of various types of knowledge transfer on shared knowledge between the parties and on the resulting outsourcing performance. Results depict the differential impact of various knowledge-transfer processes dedicated to the transfer of explicit, or tacit knowledge, respectively, on the development of shared knowledge. Interestingly, the combination of both knowledge-transfer processes dedicated to the transfer of explicit knowledge and those dedicated to the transfer of tacit knowledge proves to be most effective. Furthermore the results indicate that high levels of shared knowledge positively influence outsourcing performance. In addition to previous literature, we found transfer processes for explicit knowledge in an outsourcing context to consist of two dimensions: The content dimension, primarily focused on in literature, and the sender–receiver dimension of transfer processes which are rarely addressed in outsourcing literature. The content dimension embraces mechanisms such as trainings, SLAs and standards that define how content has to be interpreted, whereas the sender–receiver dimension of transfer processes of explicit knowledge defines explicit, documented interaction structures between parties."
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R&D, Value Chain Location and Firm Performance in the Global Electronics Industry (journal article)
by Namchul Shin; Kenneth L. Kraemer; Jason Dedrick
from Industry and Innovation, Vol 16 N0 3 June 2009, pp. 315 – 330
"In today's global electronics industry, innovation is carried out by various value chain participants, including brand-name manufacturers (sometimes called lead firms), contract manufacturers and component suppliers, but there is little understanding of who benefits most from innovation in such networks. This research examines empirically the relationship of R&D spending and location in the value chain (lead vs. non-lead firms) to firm performance in the global electronics industry by using the Electronic Business 300 data set for 2000-2005. Our results show that firms spending more on R&D have higher gross profits, but do not have higher return on equity (ROE) and return on assets (ROA). There is a strong positive relationship between lead firms and performance as measured by gross profit, ROE and ROA, but the relationship between lead firms and gross profit becomes insignificant when the interaction term of R&D and lead firm is included in the analysis. Finally, lead firm status has a positive interaction effect on the relationship between R&D and gross profit. These findings suggest that the relationship of R&D to performance is mixed, but that lead firms can capture higher value (gross profit) from R&D than contract manufacturers and component suppliers. "
Organizing the Innovation Process: Complementarities in Innovation Networking (journal article)
by James H. Love and Stephen Roper
from Industry and Innovation, Vol 16 N0 3 June 2009
"This paper contributes to the developing literature on complementarities in organizational design. We test for the existence of complementarities in the use of external networking between stages of the innovation process in a sample of UK and German manufacturing plants. Our evidence suggests some differences between the UK and Germany in terms of the optimal combination of innovation activities in which to implement external networking. Broadly, there is more evidence of complementarities in the case of Germany, with the exception of the product engineering stage. By contrast, the UK exhibits generally strong evidence of substitutability in external networking in different stages, except between the identification of new products and product design and development stages. These findings suggest that previous studies indicating strong complementarity between internal and external knowledge sources have provided only part of the picture of the strategic dilemmas facing firms. "
Power, Culture, Economy: Indigenous Australians and Mining (e-book)
by Jon Altman and David Martin (Editors)
from CAEPR Monograph No. 30
This collection of papers focuses on three large, ongoing mining operations in Queensland, Western Australia and the Northern Territory under two statutory regimes—the Aboriginal Land Rights (Northern Territory) Act 1976 and the Native Title Act 1993. The authors outline the institutional basis to greater industry involvement while describing and analysing the best practice principles that can be utilised both by companies and Indigenous community organisations.
The role of creative industries in industrial innovation (journal article)
by Kathrin Müller, Christian Rammer and Johannes Trüby
from Innovation Management Policy and Practice Vol 11 No 2 August 2009 p.148-
Contact the library for a copy of this article
"This paper analyses the role of creative industries in affecting an economy's innovation performance. Conducting a survey of more than 2,000 creative industry enterprises, we show that creative industries are among the most innovative sectors in the economy. They support innovation in a variety of other sectors through creative inputs, such as ideas for new products, supplementary products and services or marketing support for product innovations. They are also an important user of new technology and demand innovations from technology producers, particularly information and communication technologies. Own innovative activities are a key driver for supporting innovation. Creative industries are no homogenous sector, however. While software and advertising show the strongest links to industrial innovation, architecture and content providers contribute rather little.
OECD biotechnology statistics 2009 [online]
Author: Organisation for Economic Co-operation and Development (OECD)
"Contains government survey data for 22 OECD countries and additional data for four nonmember countries. The survey data provide results on the number of biotechnology firms, business expenditures on R&D, biotechnology employment, and sales of biotechnology goods and services." - foreword.
Death by INFORMATION OVERLOAD (journal article)
By Paul Hemp
from Harvard Business Review Vol. 87 Issue 9 Sept 2009, pp. 82-89
"The value of information in the knowledge economy is indisputable, but so is its capacity to overwhelm consumers of it. HBR contributing editor Hemp reports on practical ways for individuals and organizations to avoid getting too much of a good thing. Ready access to useful information comes at a cost: As the volume increases, the line between the worthwhile and the distracting starts to blur. And ready access to you -- via e-mail, social networking, and so on -- exacerbates the situation: On average, Intel executives get 300 e-mails a day, and Microsoft workers need 24 minutes to return to work after each e-mail interruption. Clearly, productivity is taking a hit. Technological aids can help, such as e-mail management software for you, a message-volume regulation system for your organization, or even more-sophisticated solutions being developed by Microsoft, IBM, and others. Yet, battling technological interruptions on their own turf only goes so far. You also need to change your mind-set, perhaps by seeking help from personal-productivity experts or by simply accepting that you can't respond to every distraction that flits across your screen. Similarly, organizations must change their cultures, for instance by establishing clear e-communication protocols. In the end, only a multipronged approach will help you and your organization subdue the multiheaded monster of information overload. The secret is to manage the beast while still respecting it for the beautiful creature it is."
