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Full-Text Articles in Technology and Innovation
Entering The Lion’S Den: Technology Entrepreneurs Need A Global View And Action Plan, Knowledge@Smu
Entering The Lion’S Den: Technology Entrepreneurs Need A Global View And Action Plan, Knowledge@Smu
Knowledge@SMU
How many technology companies are confident enough to venture outside the sheltered environment of their home country to compete against the market leaders in their own turf? Not many, especially for the new or young business ventures. Many avoid entering "the lion’s den", so to speak, for fear that they will be eaten alive. Yet, not many realise that if they cannot survive the “lion’s den”, they may not last very long within their own nest, shares seasoned venture capitalist Gideon Tolkowsky.
Soaps, Creams And Strips: Procter & Gamble’S Approach To Innovation, Knowledge@Smu
Soaps, Creams And Strips: Procter & Gamble’S Approach To Innovation, Knowledge@Smu
Knowledge@SMU
Innovate to give the customers what they desire -- it may sound like a simple and straightforward mantra for success in business, but many companies find themselves struggling to be gainfully innovative! Throw in ‘fickle-minded consumers’ and ‘a myriad of competitor offerings’ into the mix and the challenge magnifies glaringly. Yet, Procter and Gamble (P&G), a 172-year-old company, has somehow managed to get it right – and with more than 300 brands across 80 countries. Dr Shekhar Mitra, P&G’s Senior Vice-President of Research and Development, offers Singapore Management University an insider look into the innovation principles that guide one of …
Changing The World, One Laptop At A Time, Knowledge@Smu
Changing The World, One Laptop At A Time, Knowledge@Smu
Knowledge@SMU
When Nicholas Negroponte mooted the idea of a US$100 laptop four years ago, he was met with scepticism. Undaunted, he and his team signed up partners and sponsors. Today, the end product, once described as “impossible”, is said to be inspiration behind netbooks. However, technological advancement was not the driving force behind the XO, as this laptop is called. Negroponte was motivated, instead, by the educational needs of developing nations, seeing that a large number of children in these countries receive little or no education. But just how far can inexpensive laptops go to address the needs of poverty-stricken communities?
The Importance Of Being Earnest… In Cyberspace, Knowledge@Smu
The Importance Of Being Earnest… In Cyberspace, Knowledge@Smu
Knowledge@SMU
Community websites are increasingly viewed as treasure troves of opinions, from restaurant service to hotel accommodations, from mobile phone reviews to reliability ratings of an online auctioneer. An underlying factor behind the success of such websites is the implicit trust between users – to offer unbiased, accurate views. Consequently, a trustworthy online community puts users at ease to make decisions and perform transactions confidently. So web administrators would do well to maintain a trusting online community, if only to keep the cash tills a-ringing. But is it possible to measure or monitor something as unquantifiable as inter-user trust?
Think Outside Your Box: Enhancing Creativity Through Multicultural Interactions, Knowledge@Smu
Think Outside Your Box: Enhancing Creativity Through Multicultural Interactions, Knowledge@Smu
Knowledge@SMU
Creative ideas are often the result of two or more seemingly non-overlapping concepts. The more we expose ourselves to diverse experiences, the more likely we might be to sample from a richer pool of ideas, thereby facilitating our creativity, and by extension for some, organisational innovation. This is because experience lowers our resistance and increases our readiness to sample foreign concepts. Angela Leung, an assistant professor of psychology at Singapore Management University, notes that while ideas from differing cultural experiences can be recruited as intellectual resources, several factors inhibit our ability to draw on these experiences, thus impeding our creative …
Microfinance In Asia: Not So Risky, Not So Micro, Knowledge@Smu
Microfinance In Asia: Not So Risky, Not So Micro, Knowledge@Smu
Knowledge@SMU
Microfinance is proving to be a successful way to help the rural poor and disadvantaged improve their economic conditions by running their own businesses. However, the current economic crisis has reduced funding available for this pool. But with a proven strong credit history and improvements in technology, microfinancing is now seen as more than just as a nice social obligation. In the words of Nhan Phan Cu, a speaker at a recent seminar on this issue, microfinance in Asia is less risky than investment banking. However, the economic outlook poses some challenges.
Cultural Analytics: A New Field That Combines Arts, Media And It, Knowledge@Smu
Cultural Analytics: A New Field That Combines Arts, Media And It, Knowledge@Smu
Knowledge@SMU
The volume of digital data is exploding, driven largely by visuals, text, video and other cultural content. Just about everyone can be a “culture professional”. Thus, there is a need to find ways to track and make sense of the growing cultural data volume. Cultural analytics, as this new field is called, is a combination and extension of arts, media and IT. The study of this field will have applications far and wide-ranging, says Lev Manovich, a professor of visual arts at University of California.
Me-Business Model: Building Value From Consumer Created Content, Knowledge@Smu
Me-Business Model: Building Value From Consumer Created Content, Knowledge@Smu
Knowledge@SMU
As more businesses move from Web 1.0 to Web 2.0 and Web 3.0, they can benefit immensely from the insights gained through consumer generated intelligence. The newest customer-centric technologies shaping the Internet, and how they create opportunities for new business models, formed the theme of a talk by Andreas Weigend, former Chief Scientist at Amazon.com, at the Singapore Management University recently.
Globality Is What Happens After Globalisation, Knowledge@Smu
Globality Is What Happens After Globalisation, Knowledge@Smu
Knowledge@SMU
Globality is what happens after globalisation, say authors Hal Sirkin, Jim Hemerling and Arindam Bhattacharya of Boston Consulting Group in their book, Globality -- Competing with Everyone from Everywhere for Everything, published last year. Incumbents, companies from developed economies, must face the challengers from emerging economies who are quickly shifting the balance.
Collaboration With Mit Gaming Lab Fosters Industry Development In Singapore, Knowledge@Smu
Collaboration With Mit Gaming Lab Fosters Industry Development In Singapore, Knowledge@Smu
Knowledge@SMU
Singapore aims to be a seedbed for the computing gaming industry. One educational initiative to develop in-country capacity is an ongoing gaming laboratory known as GAMBIT (Gamers, Asethetics, Mechanics, Business, Innovation, Technology), run jointly by MIT and Singapore’s Media Development Authority.
Entrepreneurs Are Serial Risktakers Not Gamblers, Says Phillip Phan, Knowledge@Smu
Entrepreneurs Are Serial Risktakers Not Gamblers, Says Phillip Phan, Knowledge@Smu
Knowledge@SMU
Entrepreneurs are not gamblers, believes Phillip Phan, management professor at Johns Hopkins University. He is also Tommie Goh visiting professor of entrepreneurship and business at the Lee Kong Chian School of Business, Singapore Management University (SMU). Phan delivered a lecture in Singapore recently about the essence of entrepreneurship, how to identify entrepreneurial opportunities, and the role of governments in supporting entrepreneurs.
Lighting Up Rural Indonesia Through Community-Owned Hydropower Projects, Knowledge@Smu
Lighting Up Rural Indonesia Through Community-Owned Hydropower Projects, Knowledge@Smu
Knowledge@SMU
More than 105 million people, just under half the total population of Indonesia, are without electricity even today. 2006 Ashoka Foundation Fellow Tri Mumpuni, executive director of Indonesian NGO IBEKA (People Centred Economic and Business Institute), spoke at a forum -- organised by the Lien Centre for Social Innovation of the Singapore Management University -- about how IBEKA is helping to develop sustainable community enterprises in the energy sector.
Origami’S Enterprise 2.0 Solution: The Next Frontier In Computing?, Knowledge@Smu
Origami’S Enterprise 2.0 Solution: The Next Frontier In Computing?, Knowledge@Smu
Knowledge@SMU
James Ong, founder and CEO of technology company, Origami Frontiers, exemplifies a new generation of western educated technocrats and market-savvy entrepreneurs. After nearly two decades in the US, Ong returned to his roots in 2002, fuelled by a vision to develop innovative enterprise solutions based on emerging Web 2.0 technologies. At a research seminar organised by the School of Information Systems, Singapore Management University, Ong described how he wanted to be a part of the technology revolution in Asia.
Is Family Business In Good Hands? How To Inspire The Next Generation Of Entrepreneurs, Knowledge@Smu
Is Family Business In Good Hands? How To Inspire The Next Generation Of Entrepreneurs, Knowledge@Smu
Knowledge@SMU
Why do some family businesses fail? Sanjay Goel, strategic management and entrepreneurship professor at the University of Minnesota Duluth, addressed some of the factors that support or inhibit the success of family businesses at a seminar on “Sustaining the Entrepreneurial Drive” organised recently by the UOB–SMU Alliance Centre of the Singapore Management University.
How To Stand Out In The Crowd? Innovate, Innovate, Innovate., Knowledge@Smu
How To Stand Out In The Crowd? Innovate, Innovate, Innovate., Knowledge@Smu
Knowledge@SMU
In the world of marketing and branding, sticking out like a sore thumb is not necessarily a bad thing, advises brand innovation specialist Chandran Dharmarajan, co-founder of I-morph, a marketing innovation consultancy based in Singapore. Dharmarajan, who worked for over a decade with Unilever in India and Thailand followed by a stint with Kraft Foods Asia Pacific, spoke at a recent seminar, “Transform Your Business By Being Remarkable”, organised by the UOB-SMU Entrepreneurship Alliance Centre of the Singapore Management University.
Lien Centre’S Social Space Turns The Spotlight On Social Enterprise And Innovation, Knowledge@Smu
Lien Centre’S Social Space Turns The Spotlight On Social Enterprise And Innovation, Knowledge@Smu
Knowledge@SMU
The Lien Centre of the Singapore Management University was set up in 2006 with support from the Lien Foundation to serve as a catalyst for social innovation and change in Singapore. The Centre will launch an inaugural volume, Social Space, in August 2008. Lien Centre Board Chairman, Willie Cheng, talked to Knowledge@SMU about the book, the overall aims of the centre, and his own thinking on social enterprise, innovation and entrepreneurship. Cheng was formerly country managing director for Accenture and is actively involved in the nonprofit sector in Singapore.
Enhancing Information And Data Security: A Never Ending Quest, Knowledge@Smu
Enhancing Information And Data Security: A Never Ending Quest, Knowledge@Smu
Knowledge@SMU
Since January 2005, according to the Piracy Rights Clearinghouse, in the US alone there have been data security breaches involving over 218 million records containing sensitive personal information. People whose personal records are compromised are at risk for identity theft and financial fraud. Singapore Management University’s School of Information Systems (SIS) is spearheading research on state-of-the-art technologies and solutions to secure IT infrastructure, protect confidential information for businesses and individuals, and build trust among all parties.
Operation And Technology Roadmapping Gives Singapore Smes A Strategic Edge, Knowledge@Smu
Operation And Technology Roadmapping Gives Singapore Smes A Strategic Edge, Knowledge@Smu
Knowledge@SMU
In today’s increasingly globalised, knowledge-based marketplace, a company’s ability to exploit innovation and technology is fundamental to sustaining growth and staying ahead of the competition. To help local small and medium-sized enterprises (SMEs) move up the value-chain, Singapore’s Agency for Science, Technology and Research (A*STAR) runs the Operation and Technology Roadmapping (OTR) initiative. Michael Ferrill, who cofounded the programme, spoke on OTR and knowledge transfer at the Fourth International Research Conference on Asian Business held in March 2008 at the Singapore Management University.
There’S More To It Outsourcing Than Meets The Eye, Knowledge@Smu
There’S More To It Outsourcing Than Meets The Eye, Knowledge@Smu
Knowledge@SMU
As IT outsourcing continues to grow, this highly complex business poses interesting challenges that are not always fully understood, especially when large -scale projects are being implemented. At the 4th Annual Business Leadership Seminar of the Singapore Computer Society (SCS), held at the Singapore Management University in April 2008, CIOs from several leading public and private organisations discussed the pros and cons of IT outsourcing.
Ych Chairman Robert Yap: Building The Logistics Superhighway One Step At A Time, Knowledge@Smu
Ych Chairman Robert Yap: Building The Logistics Superhighway One Step At A Time, Knowledge@Smu
Knowledge@SMU
Robert Yap, chairman and CEO of YCH Group, was the featured speaker earlier this year in the Singapore Management University’s Wee Kim Wee Centre CEO Talk series. Over a period of 20 years, Yap led his family-owned business from a small transportation company in Singapore to a leading logistics and supply chain solutions provider in Asia Pacific. In recognition of his visionary leadership and industry expertise, Yap won the Ernst & Young Entrepreneur of the Year Award 2007. He spoke to Knowledge@SMU about YCH’s successful evolution and how the future looks for the company.
How Smes Can Leverage Innovation To Become Global Players, Knowledge@Smu
How Smes Can Leverage Innovation To Become Global Players, Knowledge@Smu
Knowledge@SMU
Small and Medium Enterprises (SMEs) need to realise that being small is only an interim stage on the way to becoming larger enterprises. How SMEs can grow is to leverage on innovation opportunities to transition to the next stage, says Singapore Management University information systems professor Desai Arcot Narasimhalu, speaking recently on “Innovation -- The tracks that can transform SMEs into global players” at the UOB-SMU Entrepreneurship Alliance Centre.
The Source Of Competitive Advantage In A Family Business Is The Family, Knowledge@Smu
The Source Of Competitive Advantage In A Family Business Is The Family, Knowledge@Smu
Knowledge@SMU
When family businesses expand overseas, they do well to capitalise on their unique core values and cultures. But these inherent strengths should be tempered to fit into the new environments, advised Sanjay Goel, strategic management and entrepreneurship professor, University of Minnesota Duluth. Goel spoke on the topic, "Sources of competitive advantage in family business – bringing the family back in," at the inaugural Ngee Ann Kongsi annual lecture, Singapore Management University (SMU). He was joined for a panel discussion afterwards by Richard Eu, Robert Yap and Andreas Sohmen-Pao. The panel was chaired by SMU deputy president and provost Tan Chin …
Motorola Cio Patricia Morrison In Dialogue: How Technology Drives Value Creation For Business, Knowledge@Smu
Motorola Cio Patricia Morrison In Dialogue: How Technology Drives Value Creation For Business, Knowledge@Smu
Knowledge@SMU
Global communications technology giant Motorola has 65,000 employees in 140 countries. Patricia Morrison, the company’s executive vice president (EVP) and chief information officer (CIO) shared insights about her role as CIO and how technology drives value creation for business at a recent Business IT Talk organised by the School of Information Systems, Singapore Management University. Morrison, who joined the company in 2005 with over 20 years of experience in managing IT and systems, was selected 2007 CIO of the Year by the Executives Club of Chicago and the Association of Information Technology Professionals.
A Tale Of Two Ngos: Bangladesh’S Grameen Bank And Brac, Knowledge@Smu
A Tale Of Two Ngos: Bangladesh’S Grameen Bank And Brac, Knowledge@Smu
Knowledge@SMU
How has Bangladesh managed to outperform other low-income countries by doubling per capita GDP growth from 1.6% in the 1980s to 3.3% in the 1990s and beyond? The World Bank cites several key factors including an active civil society and strong partnerships forged by the government with NGOs. Two visionary NGO leaders, Nobel Peace Laureate, Muhammad Yunus (founder of Grameen Bank), and Fazle Hasan Abed (founder and chairman of BRAC), co-winner of the 2007 Clinton Global Citizen Award, visited Singapore in August and Sept 2007 to deliver two lectures on their respective organisations.
Innovations In Philanthropy: The Rockefeller Foundation’S Perspective, Knowledge@Smu
Innovations In Philanthropy: The Rockefeller Foundation’S Perspective, Knowledge@Smu
Knowledge@SMU
For nearly 100 years, the mission of the Rockefeller Foundation, “to promote the well-being of humanity by addressing the root causes of serious problems”, has remained the same, even as the foundation continues to adapt its programmes to changing social, economic and cultural needs. It is also a leading proponent of innovation and change in the field of philanthropy itself. Jacqueline Khor, Associate Director, Rockefeller Foundation, delivered a lecture on new trends in philanthropy and the emergence of a new generation of “philanthro-capitalists” at a lecture organised by the Singapore Management University’s Lien Foundation Centre for Social Innovation.
Tennis, Anyone? Lessons On Innovation In A Mature Industry, Knowledge@Smu
Tennis, Anyone? Lessons On Innovation In A Mature Industry, Knowledge@Smu
Knowledge@SMU
Tennis qualifies as the oldest racquet sport in the world. Since 1874, little had changed until the 1970s when the wooden racquet was phased out, followed by a succession of cutting edge designs. How did the classic tennis racquet lend itself to being so thoroughly reinvented? Wharton management professor J.M. Pennings, together with Hann E Kim, professor at the KDI School of Public Policy and Management in Korea, set out to find some answers.
Transforming A Region Into A Vibrant Entrepreneurial Economy: How To Create The Multiplier Effect, Knowledge@Smu
Transforming A Region Into A Vibrant Entrepreneurial Economy: How To Create The Multiplier Effect, Knowledge@Smu
Knowledge@SMU
Sankaran Venkataraman is business administration professor at the Darden Graduate School of Business Administration, University of Virginia, and visiting professor of entrepreneurship and business at the Singapore Management University. At a recent seminar in Singapore, Venkataraman explored the question, “What does it take for a nascent entrepreneurial region to create the multiplier effect necessary to transform itself into a vibrant entrepreneurial economy?” In his view, institutional specialisation, division of labour, the architecture of entrepreneurial sub-systems and intangible cultures all play critical roles.
Do Software Development Projects Dispersed Across The Globe Deliver The Goods?, Knowledge@Smu
Do Software Development Projects Dispersed Across The Globe Deliver The Goods?, Knowledge@Smu
Knowledge@SMU
Higher demands on computer systems and networks compel technology companies to assign software development duties across many dispersed centres in the US, India, China and elsewhere. In actual practice, does this distributed development model work well? Singapore Management University information systems professors Narayan Ramasubbu and Rajesh Krishna Balan examined this question in an award-winning paper, “Globally Distributed Software Development Project Performance: An Empirical Analysis,” presented recently at a joint meeting of the European Software Engineering Conference and the ACM SIGSOFT symposium.
The Power Of Social Media: Only The Tip Of The Iceberg?, Knowledge@Smu
The Power Of Social Media: Only The Tip Of The Iceberg?, Knowledge@Smu
Knowledge@SMU
Social media is redefining the way people and companies around the world communicate with one another by dissolving geographical and cultural boundaries. Akanksha Goel, newly appointed Editor-in-Chief of Stuff Singapore -- a gadgets and technology lifestyle publication launched in the UK five years ago -- is a final-year marketing and corporate communication student at Singapore Management University. Goel talked to Knowledge@SMU about how social media compels us to rethink culture, and why companies should take advantage of these new channels to grow their businesses.
Big Picture Thinking Bridges Business-It Gap, Knowledge@Smu
Big Picture Thinking Bridges Business-It Gap, Knowledge@Smu
Knowledge@SMU
What lesson does John Godfrey Saxe’s poem, “The Blind Men and the Elephant”, offer information technology students at the Singapore Management University? The need for big picture thinking, says SMU information systems professor Venky Shakararaman, key architect of a business modelling and solution blueprinting course and co-author of a customised course text developed in partnership with Indian IT company, Infosys Technologies Ltd.