Daniel Berg

Effects of cultural difference on technology transfer projects: an empirical study of Taiwanese manufacturing companies

Abstract One of the major concerns in managing an international technology transfer (TT) is the potential communication difficulty that could arise because of the cultural difference between the technology provider and the technology receiver. However, the role that cultural difference plays in a TT project is not clearly discussed in the literature. This study provides empirical evidence suggesting that cultural difference might not only impose barriers for technical communication but also have an interaction effect with the nature of technology. We also find that international experience of the two companies in a TT project have different impacts on the performance of the project. In order to have a successful TT project, transferees in developing countries should choose a more mature and codified technology, and a relatively inexperienced transferor with a similar culture.

Negative Ion Formation and Electric Breakdown in Some Halogenated Gases

Utilizing a conventional electron gun and mass spectrometer, the formation of negative ions at low electron energies have been investigated for a number of halogen containing gases used in electric breakdown studies. The SF6— peak is used as an energy calibration for establishing the appearance potential and the energy width over which capture occurs for the individual gases. It is found that the relative areas of the negative ion curves can be correlated with the electric strength of the gases. The results suggest that the formation of SF5— rather than SF6— may be the important process in providing the relatively high electric breakdown value for SF6. Electron attachment associated with SF6 and CCl4 is found to be an extremely sensitive function of the gas temperature. The gases investigated include CCl4, CCl3F, CCl2F2, CClF3, CF4, CF3SF5, SeF6, C2F3Cl, CHCl2F, CF2Cl–CF2Cl, and ClO3F.

The integration of analytical hierarchy process and data envelopment analysis in a multi-criteria decision-making problem

This research focuses on developing a model that can be used to assess the performance of Small to Medium-Sized Manufacturing Enterprises (SMEs). The model will result from the integration of a decision tool called the Analytical Hierarchy Process (AHP) and a data analysis model called Data Envelopment Analysis (DEA). This research demonstrates that by eliminating flaws and taking advantage of each methodologys specific characteristics in identifying and solving problems, the new integrated AHP/DEA model appears to be a logical and sensible solution in multi-criteria decision-making problem.

Managing Information Systems for Service Quality: A Study from the Other Side

System quality, information quality, user IS characteristics, employee IS performance and technical support are identified as important elements that influence service quality. A model interrelating these constructs is proposed. Data collected through a national survey of IS departments in electric utility firms was used to test the model using regression and path analysis methodology. The results suggest that system quality, information quality, user IS characteristics, through their effects on employee IS performance, influence service quality, while technical support influences service quality directly. The results also suggest that employee IS performance contributes more to service quality compared with technical support. Implications of this research for IS theory and practice are discussed.

On services research and education

The importance of the services sector can not be overstated; it employs 82.1 percent of the U. S. workforce and 69 percent of graduates from an example technological university. Yet, university research and education have not followed suit. Clearly, services research and education deserve our critical attention and support since services — and services innovation — serve as an indispensable engine for global economic growth. The theme of this paper is that we can and should build services research and education on what has occurred in manufacturing research (especially in regard to customization and intellectual property) and education; indeed, services and manufactured goods become indistinguishable as they are jointly co-produced in real-time. Fortunately, inasmuch as manufacturing concepts, methodologies and technologies have been developed and refined over a long period of time (i.e., since the 1800s), the complementary set of concepts, methodologies and technologies for services are more obvious. However, while new technologies (e.g., the Internet) and globalization trends have served to enable, if not facilitate, services innovation, the same technologies (e.g., the Internet) and 21st Century realities (e.g., terrorism) are making services innovation a far more complex problem and, in fact, may be undermining previous innovations in both services and manufacturing. Finally, there is a need to define a “knowledge-adjusted” GDP metric that can more adequately measure the growing knowledge economy, one driven by intangible ideas and services innovation.

Case study: Service quality from the other side: Information systems management at Duquesne Light

Service organizations are continuously endeavoring to improve their quality of service as it is of paramount importance to them. Despite the importance of understanding the relationship of service quality and information systems, this research has not been pursued extensively. This study has addressed this gap in the research literature and studied how information systems impacts service quality. A research model is developed based on IS success model. System quality, information quality, user IT characteristics, employee IT performance and technical support are identified as important elements that influence service quality. An in-depth case study from the electric utility industry is used to investigate the impact.

Management of technology in the service sector: Practices in the banking industry

Abstract How is technology managed in the service industries? Should we think about technology in the services differently than we do in the goods-producing sector, or are the underlying principles and relationships similar? This paper explores these questions in the context of the US banking industry. The authors interviewed executives from half of the twenty eight largest banks in the country. The results suggest one striking difference between technology management in the two sectors, and many similarities.

A CALCULUS FOR SERVICES INNOVATION

Innovation in the services area — especially in the electronic services (e-services) domain — can be systematically developed by first considering the strategic drivers and foci, then the tactical principles and enablers, and finally the operational decision attributes, all of which constitute a process or calculus of services innovation. More specifically, there are four customer drivers (i.e., collaboration, customization, integration and adaptation), three business foci (i.e., creation-focused, solution-focused and competition-focused), six business principles (i.e., reconstruct market boundaries, focus on the big picture not numbers, reach beyond existing demand, get strategic sequence right, overcome organizational hurdles and build execution into strategy), eight technical enablers (i.e., software algorithms, automation, telecommunication, collaboration, standardization, customization, organization, and globalization), and six attributes of decision informatics (i.e., decision-driven, information-based, real-time, continuously-adaptive, customer-centric and computationally-intensive). It should be noted that the four customer drivers are all directed at empowering the individual — that is, at recognizing that the individual can, respectively, contribute in a collaborative situation, receive customized or personalized attention, access an integrated system or process, and obtain adaptive real-time or just-in-time input. The developed process or calculus serves to identify the potential white spaces or blue oceans for innovation. In addition to expanding on current innovations in services and related experiences, white spaces are identified for possible future innovations; they include those that can mitigate the unforeseen consequences or abuses of earlier innovations, safeguard our rights to privacy, protect us from the always-on, interconnected world, provide us with an authoritative search engine, and generate a GDP metric that can adequately measure the growing knowledge economy, one driven by intangible ideas and services innovation.

Effect of Space Charge on Electric Breakdown of Sulfur Hexafluoride in Nonuniform Fields

In a nonuniform field, the positive direct and 60-cycle breakdown voltages of sulfur hexafluoride (SF6) as a function of pressure pass through a pronounced maximum. In the region of this maximum, corona is present at a much lower voltage than the breakdown voltage, and the impulse ratio may be less than one. In fact, the positive impulse, i.e., 1½x40-μsec (microsecond), breakdown voltagemay be only one half of the positive direct or 60-cycle breakdown voltage. This breakdown characteristic is contrary to the more usual behavior of gases which are less electron-attaching. For example, nitrogen and hydrogen have impulse breakdown voltages which are greater than the direct or alternating breakdown voltage. In this investigation, a positive impulse voltage was superimposed on a positive direct voltage applied to a point electrode. In the presence of corona, a space charge was established which caused the breakdown voltage versus positive direct voltage bias characteristic of SF6 to have a slope opposite to that obtained for air. Below corona onset in SF6, the breakdown voltage does not vary with bias. At high pressures where corona onset and breakdown are nearly coincidental, the breakdown voltage of SF6 does not vary with bias. The experimental evidence indicates that the occurrence of the maximum in the breakdown voltage versus pressure characteristic of SF6 is caused by the ability of these electronattaching gases to form space charges which greatly enhance the direct or alternating breakdown voltage.

Technology in the service development process: A missing dimension

The service sector being the leading part of any countrys economic growth, demands an increasingly growing attention. The literature related to services discusses several aspects of the service sector but lacks in explaining the role of technology in the service development process. This paper analyses the literature pertinent to services, and establishes the important relationship of technology to the service development process. This discussion prepares a platform to study the service development process from a different perspective, which raises the need to revise the generic service development models to match the current and variable needs of the market. Recommendations are posed to enhance the service development experience by including technology as an important (driving) dimension in the service development process by categorising them for different service segments.