Technology Culture And Competitiveness

The first volume in a major new series, this book will be an essential read for all those who need to deal with the causes and consequences of rapid technological change in an increasingly globalized world, whether they be government policy-makers, managers of multi-national corporations, commentators on the international scene or specialists in and students of international politics, economics and business studies. The authors discuss three related areas: * How do we think about technology and international relations/international political economy? How does technology relate to competitiveness? How does it inlfuence our culture and how is it influenced by it? * In what sense is technology a fundamental component of national competitive advantage and what ought national, local and corporate policy to be in the light of this? * What is the relationship between technological innovation and global political and economic change? Technology is discussed not just in an instrumental sense - as a tool of power and an object of policy - but equally in a transcendental sense - as a key to shaping and structuring how we understand and interpret reality. The final section of the book presents case studies of three core sectors of the world political economy, finance , aviation and automobiles.

This work provides the reader with a series of sectoral and comparative insights into the new world of national competitiveness, with particular reference to the US and Japan. It also provides a synthesis of emerging fields around knowledge and evolutionary thought. The author demonstrates the role of cultural factors in co-evolutionary processes, and investigates why different countries consistently perform very differently from one sector to another in the international market for technologies. The book offers an integrated framework for understanding how different national learning patterns affect innovation, and a perspective on the dynamic interaction and co-evolution of culture, technology, institutions and governance.

The first volume in a major new series, this book will be an essential read for all those who need to deal with the causes and consequences of rapid technological change in an increasingly globalized world, whether they be government policy-makers, managers of multi-national corporations, commentators on the international scene or specialists in and students of international politics, economics and business studies. The authors discuss three related areas: * How do we think about technology and international relations/international political economy? How does technology relate to competitiveness? How does it inlfuence our culture and how is it influenced by it? * In what sense is technology a fundamental component of national competitive advantage and what ought national, local and corporate policy to be in the light of this? * What is the relationship between technological innovation and global political and economic change? Technology is discussed not just in an instrumental sense - as a tool of power and an object of policy - but equally in a transcendental sense - as a key to shaping and structuring how we understand and interpret reality. The final section of the book presents case studies of three core sectors of the world political economy, finance , aviation and automobiles.

Over the last decade, and even since the bursting of the technology bubble, pundits, consultants, and thought leaders have argued that information technology provides the edge necessary for business success. IT expert Nicholas G. Carr offers a radically different view in this eloquent and explosive book. As IT's power and presence have grown, he argues, its strategic relevance has actually decreased. IT has been transformed from a source of advantage into a commoditized "cost of doing business"--with huge implications for business management. Expanding on Carr's seminal Harvard Business Review article that generated a storm of controversy, Does IT Matter? provides a truly compelling--and unsettling--account of IT's changing business role and its leveling influence on competition. Through astute analysis of historical and contemporary examples, Carr shows that the evolution of IT closely parallels that of earlier technologies such as railroads and electric power. He goes on to lay out a new agenda for IT management, stressing cost control and risk management over innovation and investment. And he examines the broader implications for business strategy and organization as well as for the technology industry. A frame-changing statement on one of the most important business phenomena of our time, Does IT Matter? marks a crucial milepost in the debate about IT's future. An acclaimed business writer and thinker, Nicholas G. Carr is a former executive editor of the Harvard Business Review.

This book contains a selection of articles on the subject of 'Culture and Production'. They are results of international conferences held in Tokyo, Washington and Bremen between 1991 and 1994. The International Research Network on Culture and Production (CAPIRN) carried out a 5-year joint research project examining the impact of different industrial cultures on the development and implementation, and above all on the international transfer of technology. The machine tools sector was selected for this international comparative study, because over the last 15 years this global market has undergone dramatic changes that cannot be adequately explained by traditional economic theories of international competition. The 'industrial culture' research concept permits an analysis and understanding of hitherto unrecognised interrelationships between the dimensions of different industrial cultures and the process of technological innovation in international competition. The special challenge faced by CAPIRN was to develop the theoretical concept of industrial culture further and to apply it within a large-scale international study. A considerable amount of work in this field has been published by CAPIRN members since 1990. This book is the first compilation of research findings in the field of industrial culture. We wish to express our thanks to the national research councils in the participant countries, the FORCE and FAST programmes of the European Union, the Japanese Ministry for Industry, MITI, and the Hans Bockler Foundation, to mention only some of the many bodies that have provided support.

Published in 1998. Rapidly advancing information technology plays an important role in the formation of new corporate organizations. Some people say, in fact, that the Internet itself may well suggest a future corporate organization. Under these circumstances, how is the corporate culture, which is integral to the organization, to be duly taken? What is an appropriate culture to the would-be future business organization, which will necessarily be all the more supported and strengthened by information technology? In the author's view, the cultures fit in well with the structure of enterprise competitiveness can readily evolve into the 21st century organization. Such a culture would, with no difficulty, find an arena of its own in the future organization and eventually become integral to the company.

The determinants of a firm's innovative capacity are rooted in organizational design, incentives, human resources, internal culture, and external linkages. Profiting from innovation is always a challenge and licensing is one of many options.

Containing the research of leading academics, this text explores the fundamentals of economic success - technology, innovation and competitiveness.