Digital Commons Network^™

The Flow Of Technological Innovation In An R&D Department, Arnoud De Meyer

Research Collection Lee Kong Chian School Of Business

The flow of technological information, in particular the type of sources and transfer channels for technological information has been a focus of research interest since the very first studies concerning management of research and development. However, the results of these empirical studies, although encouraging and useful to managers, leave several questions unanswered, and even worse, contain some contradictions. In this paper we will try to explain some of these contradictions using the technology characteristics as a contingency factor. The model, which we will present has been tested in a twofold way: questionnaires were used to provide insight into the importance …

Toward A Contingency Model Of Strategic Risk Taking, Inga Skromme Baird, Howard Thomas

Research Collection Lee Kong Chian School Of Business

A model of strategic risk taking incorporating environmental, industrial, organizational, decision maker, and problem variables is presented. The model is intended to be both a preliminary conceptualization of strategic risk taking and a stimulant for future research on risk taking in strategic management decisions. Relevant research from a number of disciplines is summarized, and the potential impacts of particular variables on the propensity to take strategic risks are examined.

Academic Self-Government In The United States, Howard Hunter

Research Collection Yong Pung How School Of Law

A university is like any other complex institution in that it requires numerous general and particular decisions about the use of its resources and the manner of its operations. Public laws and constitutions as well as the charters, ordinances, statutes and by-laws of the university provide the maps for the distribution of the rights to make decisions which are binding upon members of the university, or, more exactly, those who fill the roles that, taken all together, comprise the university.

Impacts Of Robotics And Flexible Manufacturing Technologies On Manufacturing Costs And Employment, Steven M. Miller

Research Collection School Of Computing and Information Systems

The issues analyzed in this paper are the extent to which unit costs and production labor requirements might be reduced in manufacturing industries if there is more widespread use of industrial robots and flexible systems. The analysis is reported in detail in Miller (1983). These issues are analyzed from two different perspectives. The technological focus of the first perspective is narrowly confined to the use of robotic manipulators. It is assumed that robotic manipulators will be “retrofitted” into existing production facilities without making major changes in the organization of production within the factory, other than modifying individual work stations so …

A Technological Lifecycle Approach To The Organizational-Factors Determining Gatekeeper Activities, Arnoud De Meyer

Research Collection Lee Kong Chian School Of Business

The paper deals with the question whether gatekeepers arise spontaneously (non-hierarchical) or are created by administrative action (hierarchical). The author's approach to the problem relies on the use of a lifecycle model of an organisation devised by Utterback and Abernathy. They distinguish a product-innovation, a transitional and process- innovation (consolidation) phase in the development of an enterprise. The author's hypothesis is that gatekeepers can arise via either route depending on the phase in which enterprise is operating. In the earlier phases the author predicts that gatekeepers will either be absent or non-hierarchical (spontaneous) while in later phases they will be …

Robotic Realities: Near Term Prospects And Problems, Robert U. Ayres, Steven M. Miller

Research Collection School Of Computing and Information Systems

Industrial robots are automation, but with a difference. Other machine tools are extensions of human capabilities, while robots are seen mainly as substitutes for human workers. Robots will find most of their industrial applications during the next decade or two in the metal-working sectors, where they will begin to displace semiskilled machine operatives in medium to large batch production operations. They cannot substitute for skilled machinists or other workers doing nonroutine jobs, or specialized, dedicated hard automation used in mass production. The current generation of robots, lacking sensory data processing and interpretation capabilities, can potentially replace up to 1.3 million …

Vertical Linkages And Multinational Enterprises In Developing Countries, Linda Y. C. Lim, Eng Fong Pang

Research Collection Lee Kong Chian School Of Business

Many studies have concluded that multinational firms do not create significant technical and other vertical linkages in developing host countries. This case study of three multinational firms in the export-oriented electronics industry in Singapore shows that under certain conditions multinational firms can lead in creating local vertical linkages. It suggests that restrictive government policies to increase local purchases may not be necessary, effective or desirable in promoting local linkages by export-oriented multinational firms that respond primarily to international market conditions. The Singapore experience poinst to the importance of a healthy investment climate and rapid economic growth in encouraging multinational firms …

Robotics And The Conservation Of Human Resources, Robert U. Ayres, Steven M. Miller

Research Collection School Of Computing and Information Systems

Due to rapid expansion in the field of robotics, policy issues have arisen in regard to developing human skills to deal with the new technology and to deal with the obsolescent human skills which are the inevitable result of this growth pattern. Industrialists, educators, union leaders, and government officials must work cooperatively to insure that the coming changes are made with minimum disruption. Improved training methods and courses have to be developed for the skills needed to control, manage and supervise the new machines. Some of the ways in which this can be accomplished are through offering financial incentives for …

Resource Taxation With Heterogeneous Quality And Endogenous Reserves, Robert F. Conrad, Bryce Hool

Research Collection School Of Economics

This paper analyzes the impact of mining taxation on the intertemporal extraction profile for a heterogeneous ore body. The extraction profile specifies both quantities and qualities extracted in each period. Total extraction is thus endogenously determined. The taxes explicitly considered are severance taxes (ad valorem or per unit; on metal or on ore), property taxes, and profits taxes (with depletion allowance). The intertemporal framework integrates economic and geological factors, generating new results on extraction distortions and providing qualification or reconciliation of previous diverse results in this area.

The Economic Status Of Malay Muslims In Singapore, Eng Fong Pang

Research Collection Lee Kong Chian School Of Business

In 1965 Singapore separated from Malaysia to become an independent secular state in a region of Islamic nations. It had then an estimated per capita income of S$ 1,600' and a population of 1.9 million people, a sixth of them Muslim. Today, after sixteen years of rapid economic progress, it has a per capita income of S$10,0002 and a population of 2.4 million people. Of the population aged ten and over in 1980, 324,000 or one-sixth are Muslim. Ninety per cent of the Muslims in Singapore are Malays, nine per cent are Indians and Pakistanis, and one per cent belong …

The Role Of Technological Change, Robert U. Ayres, Steven M. Miller

Research Collection School Of Computing and Information Systems

We develop an optimal growth model that includes several important new features. First, technological change is endogenously related to the growth of 'knowledge.' Investment may be directed either towards physical capital or knowledge (or both). Knowledge becomes an effective substitute for scarce resources by increasing the technical efficiency of resource utilization both for consumption and in capital. Nevertheless, a finite quantity resource must be embodied in capital and a finite flow is required for depreciation. Thus, there is an upper limit to technical efficiency and economic growth is thus ultimately limited by the availability of renewable resources. For a simple …

Correction To "Redundancy Optimization Of General Systems", H. Sivaramakrishnan, Arcot Desai Narasimhalu

Research Collection School Of Computing and Information Systems

Reader Aids-

Purpose: Report a correction

Special math needed: Probability

Results useful to: Reliability Theoreticians

Efficient Employment Of Cohorts Of Labor In The U.S. Economy: An Illustration Of A Method, A. E. Boardman, Steven M. Miller, A. P. Schinnar

Research Collection School Of Computing and Information Systems

This paper presents a model for the analysis of efficient labor force participation in the U.S. economy. Ridge regression estimates of the elasticities of cohorts of labor, classified by sex and occupation, are used in conjunction with wage data to illustrate the derivation of efficient allocation of labor cohorts in five economic sectors. These efficient constructs are compared with actual census data for 1960 and 1970. The results, while tentative, show a trend toward more efficient utilization of labor and greater participation by women in the work force.

Statutory And Judicial Responses To The Problem Of Access To Government Information, Constance Y. Singleton, Howard Hunter

Research Collection Yong Pung How School Of Law

The tremendous growth of government occasioned by greater involvement in the social and economic life of the nation has been the cause of many concerns. Two perennial concerns have been the extent to which the government can prevent public access to information on the basis of which policies and decisions are made and the possibility for misuse by the government of information private to individuals or business firms. This article focuses on federal statutory responses to these issues. The legislative intent has usually been praiseworthy but the resulting statutes, especially as they have been interpreted by the courts, have often …

A Rapid Algorithm For Reliability Optimization Of Parallel Redundant Systems, Arcot Desai Narasimhalu, H. Sivaramakrishnan

Research Collection School Of Computing and Information Systems

A rapid method is proposed for optimization of reliability of multiconstraint parallel redundant systems. The constraints need not be linear. This method provides good starting values, which are close to the boundary of the feasible region, for the number of redundant units in each subsystem. No proof has been presented to establish the optimality obtained by this method. Yet for examples tried out this method provides optimal or near optimal solutions.

Report On Antitrust Implications Of Joint Industry Activities Under Price Controls, William W. Sadd, William E. Huth, John C. Cortesio, Howard Hunter

Research Collection Yong Pung How School Of Law

Pursuant to the authority of the Economic Stabilization Act of 1970, the nation has recently experienced "Phase IV" of a program of price controls. This statutory authority expired on April 30, 1974, except as to certain petroleum products. Phase IV, to a greater extent than the preceding three phases of controls, gave rise to a need and an opportunity for joint industry efforts to influence and guide governmental authorities in shaping pricing policies in the economy. This report, therefore, examines the legal basis for such joint industry activities within the purview of Section 1 of the Sherman Act. If authority …