Implications of Success and Persistence for Public Sector Performance

Public sector organizations collect vast amounts of information that often goes unused. Information may serve a symbolic role to imply that decision makers are using rational decision processes, or it may be collected to rationalize a preconceived decision and develop or maintain public support. Over-collection of irrelevant information or under-analysis of existing information for decision implications leads to excessive public information costs with limited public benefit. The study discusses the role systematic information misalignment plays in the public sector and considers its implications for public agency performance. The concept is evaluated using examples from the National Aeronautics and Space Administration.

中小企业新产品开发关键成功因素的识别及其实证研究

创新对于公司绩效的重要性引致了许多关于识别新产品开发成功因素的研究。然而,这些研究的大部分都是针对发达经济或是大型企业的;对于中小企业在新兴市场中如何开发新产品研究则相对较少。这篇论文试图分析中国中小企业新产品开发的成功因素以弥补这一研究的空缺。不同于传统的分析方法将新产品开发的每一阶段的成功因素都认为是同质的,我们对于新产品开发过程的每个阶段的成功因素从管理的角度来进行审视。我们发现我国中小企业在创意设想阶段并不将经济回报作为首要标准。虽然各成功因素的相对重要性在不同阶段会有所不同,技术、营销、商业性、管理等因素在所有阶段都是重要的。这个结果对于中小企业在新产品开发的各个阶段如何开发和管理新产品有一定的启示作用。     

A framework of motivations for industry-big science collaboration: A case study

The epistemic (knowledge creation) benefits of big science centres are obvious to everyone. During an era of tight budgetary constraints, however, it is difficult to justify the existence of these centres on the basis of their epistemic contributions alone. Although it is recognized that the contributions are not limited to epistemic types only, the picture of other types of contribution (e.g., spin-off benefits) remains blurred. The present paper proposes a framework for depicting and discussing the various contributions of big science centres in a systematic manner.The main objective of the paper is to provide policy-makers, industrialists, and academics with a framework to justify, motivate and establish systematic technological interaction between big science centres and industry. The framework comprises six basic dimensions. These dimensions are viewed both from the industrial and from the scientific perspective, and partly from the public perspective. It is argued that direct and measurable incentives constitute only a fraction of the overall benefits stemming from the industrial-scientific collaboration. The paper concludes with a framework of motivations and actions to materialize them.     

Getting out of the European Paradox trap: Making European research agile and challenge driven

The ‘European Paradox’ encapsulates concerns that although European research institutions play a leading role in terms of top-level scientific output, they lag behind in their ability to convert this strength into successful innovations in the market. This paradox and the related intriguing problematic aspects of European research institutions have inspired a significant number of research papers, reports and studies by academics, innovation think tanks and the European Commission itself. In this position paper, we review the literature on the European paradox, identify gaps and contradictions in the understanding of the actual situation and discuss possible ways of moving forward towards a European research and innovation system that taps into diversity and complementarity of resources as a competitive innovation advantage.     

Industry and the environment: a case study of cleaner technologies in selected European countries

The aim of this case study is to discuss the role of technology in addressing environmental problems. The paper tries to scratch beneath the surface of the increasingly frequent ‘quick-fix’ solutions to the present environmental problems, based on such beguiling catchwords as Cleaner Technologies, Best Available Technologies, and Best Available Technologies Not Exceeding Excessive Costs, etc., in an attempt to discover whether there is any substance in them, or whether they are just full of hot air. Recent data from case studies performed by the author in Germany and Finland as well as a postal questionnaire in Denmark are presented. The paper analyses and discusses the roles and responsibilities of designers, industrialists, and government policy-makers. It is argued that existing regulatory regimes, supranational industrial structures, and market mechanisms do not favour the development of cleaner technologies, nor do they promote a reduction in consumption patterns. Evidence from ongoing empirical research in Northwest Europe suggests that industry is far from developing and/or implementing cleaner technologies. The paper closes with a discussion of some of the policy implications involved and some examples of urgently needed further research.     

Internal networking and innovation ambidexterity: The mediating role of knowledge management processes in university research

This article focuses on public organizations to contribute to research on knowledge management processes, a field that until recently has focused primarily on private entities. Specifically, we analyse the mediating role of knowledge transfer and knowledge absorption in the relationship between the internal networking created in university research groups and innovation ambidexterity. Based on six hypotheses, the conceptual model is tested through a structural equations model with mediation effects. The data analysed come from 249 directors of Spanish public university research groups. The results show that the internal networking formed in university research groups has a positive and significant relationship to knowledge transfer and knowledge absorption, but we obtain different results for the relationship between knowledge transfer and knowledge absorption in the presence of innovation ambidexterity. Only knowledge absorption has a positive and significant influence on innovation ambidexterity. The most interesting results involve the mediating role of knowledge absorption in the relationship between internal networking and innovation ambidexterity. These results support the conclusion that directors of university research groups should promote development of knowledge absorption processes in order to stimulate innovation ambidexterity and thus to achieve ambidextrous innovative performance.     

Use of risk assessment and life cycle assessment in decision making: a common policy research agenda.

Quantitative risk assessment (RA) and life cycle assessment (LCA) are both analytical tools used to support decision making in environmental management. They have been developed and used by largely separate groups of specialists, and it is worth considering whether there is a common research agenda that may increase the relevance of these tools in decision-making processes. The validity of drawing comparisons between use of the tools is established through examining key aspects of the two approaches for their similarities and differences, including the nature of each approach and contextual and methodological aspects. Six case studies involving use of each approach in public decision making are described and used to draw out concerns about using RA and LCA in this context. The following categories of concern can be distinguished: philosophical approach of the tools; quantitative versus qualitative assessment; stakeholder participation; the nature of the results; and the usefulness of the results in relation to time and financial resource requirements. These can be distilled into a common policy research agenda focusing on: the legitimacy of using tools built on a particular perspective in decision making; recognition and role of value judgments in RA and LCA; treatment of uncertainty and variability; the influence of analytical tools in focusing attention on particular aspects of a decision-making situation; and understandability of the results for nonspecialists. It is concluded that it is time to bring together the experiences of RA and LCA specialists and benefit from cross-fertilization of ideas.     

Assessing the Benefits and Costs of Homeland Security Research: A Risk-Informed Methodology with Applications for the U.S. Coast Guard

This article describes a methodology for risk-informed benefit–cost analyses of homeland security research products. The methodology is field-tested with 10 research products developed for the U.S. Coast Guard. Risk-informed benefit–cost analysis is a tool for risk management that integrates elements of risk analysis, decision analysis, and benefit–cost analysis. The cost analysis methodology includes a full-cost accounting of research projects, starting with initial fundamental research costs and extending to the costs of implementation of the research products and, where applicable, training, maintenance, and upgrade costs. The benefits analysis methodology is driven by changes in costs and risks leading to five alternative models: cost savings at the same level of security, increased security at the same cost, signal detection improvements, risk reduction by deterrence, and value of information. The U.S. Coast Guard staff selected 10 research projects to test and generalize the methodology. Examples include tools to improve the detection of explosives, reduce the costs of harbor patrols, and provide better predictions of hurricane wind speeds and floods. Benefits models and estimates varied by research project and many input parameters of the benefit estimates were highly uncertain, so risk analysis for sensitivity testing and simulation was important. Aggregating across the 10 research products, we found an overall median net present value of about $385 million, with a range from $54 million (5th percentile) to $877 million (95th percentile). Lessons learned are provided for future applications.     

Estimating Dermal Uptake of Nonionic Organic Chemicals from Water and Soil: I. Unified Fugacity-Based Models for Risk Assessments

Contamination of water and soil that might eventually contact human skin makes it imperative to include the dermal uptake route in efforts to assess potential environmental health risks. Direct measurements of dermal uptake from either water or soil are only available for a small number of the thousands of chemicals likely to be found in the environment. We propose here a mass-transfer model for estimating skin permeability and dermal uptake for organic chemicals that contaminate soil and water. Statistical relationships between measured permeabilities and chemical properties reveal that permeability varies primarily with the octanol-water partition coefficient (Kow) and secondarily with the molecular weight. From these results, we derive a fugacity-based model for skin permeability that addresses the inherent permeability of the skin, the interaction of the skin with the environmental medium on skin (water or soil), and retains a relatively simple algebraic form. Model predictions are compared to measured human skin permeabilities for some 50 compounds in water and four compounds in soil. The model is adjusted to account for dermal uptake during both short-term (10-20 min) and long-term (several hour) exposures. This model is recommended for compounds with molecular weight less than or equal to 280 g.