Damian Hine

Employability Skills: Perspectives from a Knowledge-Intensive Industry.

Purpose: While the global education debate remains focused on graduate skills and employability, the absence of a shared language between student, academic and industry stakeholder groups means that defining industry skills requirements is both essential and difficult. The aim of this study was to assess graduate skills requirements in a knowledge intensive industry from a demand perspective as distinct from a curriculum (supply) viewpoint. Design/methodology/approach: Skills items were derived from a breadth of disciplines across academic, policy and industry literature. CEOs and senior managers in the innovation and commercialisation industry were surveyed regarding perceptions of skills in graduates and skills in demand by the firm. Two rounds of exploratory factor analyses were undertaken to examine employers’ perceptions of the skills gap. Findings: First order analysis resolved 10 broad constructs that represent cognitive, interpersonal and intrapersonal skills domains as applied in this industry. Knowledge, leadership and interprofessional collaboration feature as prominent skills. Second order analysis revealed employers’ perceptions of graduate skills specifically centre on organisational fit and organisational success. An over-arching theme relates to performance of the individual in organisations. Research limitations/implications: Our findings suggest that the discourse on employability and the design of curriculum need to shift from instilling lists of skills towards enabling graduates to perform in a diversity of workplace contexts and expectations centred on organisational purpose. Originality/value: In contrast to the heterogeneous nature of industry surveys, we targeted a homogenous sector that is representative of knowledge intensive industries. This study contributes to the broader stakeholder dialogue of the value and application of graduate skills in this and other industry sectors.

The Population of Organisations Life Cycle (POLC): Implications for Small Business Assistance Programs

DENNIS HOWARD AND DAMIAN HINE ARE PhD candidates working at Southern Cross University, Australia. Despite the wealth of programs employed by governments towards the small business sector, there is often little in the way of studies that systematically evaluate those programs. The authors believe that a major cause of this is a general lack of models that systematically explain what environmental factors influence small enterprise development. The paper addresses in part this issue and recommends the need for research to test the model. Small business development will be a major policy front through the 1990s because of the perceived role of small businesses in job creation and sustainable development. Policy approaches differ, however, because of the debate about government intervention in the economy. While there is substantial agreement in favour of neutralising forces that inhibit free markets, the benefits of direct intervention at the level of the firm are often debated. In this paper, life cycle theories (the Product Life Cuycle and the Organisation Life Cycle) are used to outline how product markets and organisations theoretically develop. An additional life cycle is identified, the Population of Organisations Life Cycle (POLC). It is useful for predicting a range of possible outcomes associated with small business assistance programs (SBAPs) and suggests when the benefits of such programs are maximised.

The knowledge exchange intermediary as service provider: a discussion and an Australian case

The critical impact of innovation on national and the global economies has been discussed at length in the literature. Economic development requires the diffusion of innovations into markets. It has long been recognised that economic growth and development depends upon a constant stream of innovations. Governments have been keenly aware of the need to ensure this flow does not dry to a trickle and have introduced many and varied industry policies and interventions to assist in seeding, supporting and diffusing innovations. In Australia, as in many countries, Government support for the transfer of knowledge especially from publicly funded research has resulted in the creation of knowledge exchange intermediaries. These intermediaries are themselves service organisations, seeking innovative service offerings for their markets. The choice for most intermediaries is generally a dichotomous one, between market-pull and technology-push knowledge exchange programmes. In this article, we undertake a case analysis of one such innovative intermediary and its flagship programme. We then compare this case with other successful intermediaries in Europe. We put forward a research proposition that the design of intermediary programmes must match the service type they offer. That is, market-pull programmes require market-pull design, in close collaboration with industry, whereas technology programmes can be problem-solving innovations where demand is latent. The discussion reflects the need for an evolution in knowledge transfer policies and programmes beyond the first generation ushered in with the US Bayh–Dole Act (1980) and Stevenson–Wydler Act (1984). The data analysed is a case study comparison of market-pull and technology-push programmes, focusing on primary and secondary socio-economic benefits (using both Australian and international comparisons).

Individual and collective knowledge: An analysis of intellectual capital in an Australian biotechnology venture using the text analytic tool Pertex

Purpose – The purpose of this paper is to focus on the need in biotechnology to integrate a variety of knowledge bases to build the intellectual asset base of the commercial entity operating in the biotechnology industry.Design/methodology/approach – The paper is based upon a single case study of a young biotechnology company, itself relying on the knowledge and expertise of four directors. To analyze the responses of the four directors to a single lead question, designed to prompt the respondents to articulate the intellectual capital they offer to the firm, this study employs a novel text analytical tool known as Perspective Text Analysis (Pertex).Research limitations/implications – The results show the disparate nature of the individual knowledge sets in contributing to the interdisciplinary base of the firm. The combined analysis illustrates the importance of collective intellectual capital through “sustainable collaboration.”Originality/value – This study employs a novel analytical tool to undertake ...

The Tortoise and the Hare: Evolving Regulatory Landscapes for Biosimilars

Challenges in demonstrating interchangeability and safety, as well as the ongoing evolution of regulations governing biosimilars, have meant that the development of the biosimilars industry has not been, and will not be, a carbon copy of the generics industry. Complexity in the development process reduces the cost advantages for biosimilars that generics offer over originators. There has been a marked difference in the number of biosimilars approved by the European Medicines Agency (EMA) and US FDA due to a lack of consensus and the different rates of progress in establishing both law and stable evidence-based regulatory guidelines for biosimilars. In this review, we provide a précis of the history and status of the regulatory regimes in the USA and Europe. Included is an assessment of market and nonmarket factors that may continue to influence the development of the biosimilars industry.

Changes in clinical trial length

This analysis of changes in the length of clinical trials over time provides evidence of increased efficiency in drug development and investigates the possible contributing factors.

An analysis of changing management roles in small Australian services exporters in response to the stages in industry development

Life cycle models have become important in explaining the changing size structure of firms based on the carrying capacity of regions or industries. In particular, the population ecology model predicts stages of growth, maturity and eventually decline in the number of firms in an industry. There has been criticism of such models because of their focus on external variables as pre‐determinants of the potential for enterprise development. This paper attempts to reconcile the external focus of the population ecology model with relevant internal management factors in enterprise development. A survey was conducted of Australian services exporters, and the results not only confirm the existence of four separate life cycle stages in the population ecology model, but also identify the external and internal variables that are strategically relevant at each of the stages. The findings provide potentially useful information in a range of contexts including the design of small business assistance as well a providing “guide posts” to entrepreneurs engaged in enterprise development.

THE SMALL ENTERPRISE ENVIRONMENTAL MATRIX: A TOOL FOR STRATEGICALLY POSITIONING SMALL BUSINESS ASSISTANCE PROGRAMS

This paper commences by discussing Small Business Assistance Programs (SBAPs) including why they are necessary, how they work and when they should be employed. This sets the fundamental parameters upon which to base the design of SBAPs. But there is little in the literature, apart from rudimentary planning models to help with strategic positioning of SBAPs in a government policy context. The Small Enterprise Environment Matrix (SEEM) is proposed as a conceptually simple yet potentially useful tool to help policy-makers. It is based on the popular portfolio/matrix approach to strategic decision-making.

Interdisciplinary science research and education

Science history shows us that interdisciplinarity is a spontaneous process that is intrinsic to, and engendered by, research activity. It is an activity that is done rather than an object to be designed and constructed. We examine three vignettes from the history of science that display the interdisciplinary process at work and consider the implications for education. We consider recent examples of interdisciplinary science education, including where interdisciplinarity involves students in authentic scientific research. We conclude that the reconciliation of research and education is a meaningful role for interdisciplinary practice in science education.

Enterprise Policy and the Metagovernance of Firm Capabilities

The underlying logic of enterprise policy is that there are impediments to change in economic systems that can be traced to the path-dependent behaviors of economic actors that prevent them from exploring new knowledge and new ways of doing things. Enterprise policy involves firm-level interventions delivered by distributed networks of business advisors coordinated by knowledge intermediaries. These metagovernance arrangements are able to disrupt the path-dependent behaviors of organizations. The logic and benefits of enterprise policy are explored through reference to public administration, strategic management and evolutionary theory, and three case studies.