The Social and Cognitive Impacts of E-Commerce on Modern Organizations includes articles addressing the social, cultural, organizational, and cognitive impacts of e-commerce technologies and advances on organizations around the world. Looking specifically at the impacts of electronic commerce on consumer behavior, as well as the impact of e-commerce on organizational behavior, development, and management in organizations. This important new book aims to expand the overall body of knowledge regarding the human aspects of electronic commerce technologies and utilization in modern organizations and to assist researchers and practitioners to devise more effective systems for managing the human side of e-commerce.

Virtually every city in the nation's older industrial regions, no matter its size, grapples with the challenge of unused or abandoned manufacturing facilities and other industrial sites. Local public officials, economic development practitioners, and site owners who have sought to revitalize fallow industrial properties face daunting challenges: contamination of the buildings, equipment, and surrounding land and water. Public concern about health effects from hazardous chemicals, changing environmental law, and evolving private sector development and financing priorities have made it increasingly difficult for communities to restore and reuse former manufacturing sites. This study, sponsored by the Northeast-Midwest Institute, offers analysis and practical guidance on how these blighted areas--brownfields--have been and can be brought back to life.

The basic features of R & D and of technical change are presented in a descriptive fashion. An economic framework is then developed for studying endogenous technical change.

This book deals with the development and fortunes of Inmos, today the largest British-owned semiconductor manufacturer of high volume, standard micro-electronic components. Authors McLean and Rollands provide a detailed history of the company from its beginnings in the late 1970s as a desperate attempt on the part of the Labour Government to regain a strategic British presence in the microelectronics industry to its present position and future in the world of high-technology industry.

Too many new products fail. Mainly because new products are hard to differentiate from exisiting products and they don't capture the customer's imagination. The failure is due to a poor understanding of customers' needs. Companies need to take a radical approach to identifying customers' real needs, and this book demonstrates innovative ways to acheive this.

Kirchhoff blends economics, business, and governemnt policy to demonstrate that entrepreneurship's role in business formation and growth energizes and maintains the viability of capitalism. Entrepreneurs convert new ideas into marketable products and services and use these to grab market shares from older, established firms. This process not only produces economic growth, but also redistributes resources so as to assure equitable distribution within society. Acknowledging that this perception is descriptive but lacks predictive power, Kirchhoff offers a typology to assist in predictive theory building and to guide government policy development.

This volume explores Malaysian business in the era that began with the Asian financial crisis of 1997-1999. The contributions, by a broad range of international experts, are informed by a wish to identify what Malaysia needs to do to sustain economic growth, remain internationally competitive and further social stability in the post-crisis period. Malaysia's unconventional response to the crisis suggests that its business community has developed a new level of confidence in its ability to adopt and sustain innovative policies even when these strategies challenge the international financial community. This response is perceived as evidence that Malaysian business has indeed entered a new era characterised by a high level of confidence in the nation's capacity to weather the external periodic shocks that are a feature of the current wave of globalisation. The book argues that there are grounds for optimism in this regard while recognising that the true test will occur when Malaysia is compelled to confront a major decline in its international export markets brought on by a truly major crisis such as an OECD-wide recession. Business scholars and professionals as well as readers interested in Asian business and economics will find this volume informative.

Clemens Schutte analyses the emergence of corporate control structures in the Czech privatization process. The book depicts the basic features of the Czech system of corporate control and the direction of its transformation. This is an extremely relevant subject since the Czech privatization process is a model case in several respects: it is institutionally open and hence allows for spontaneous development; and privatization has been carried out comprehensively and rapidly. Based upon a theoretical analysis of the institutional cornerstones of corporate control, the book develops clear recommendations which are subsequently used as a benchmark to assess the performance of the evolving Czech system of corporate control.The book discusses the role of the most important players in corporate control including the big bank-centred financial groups, capital markets, the board model of Czech corporations and the institutional base of debt control and minority shareholder protection. It also reveals the conflict of political intentions and real-time developments. As an important and timely contribution, this book will be invaluable reading for all those involved, or interested, in the privatization and corporate control of other Central and Eastern European countries. Those working in financial and political institutions will also find this book valuable.

Provides first time integrated approach to R and D-project, -pipeline and -department management from a micro-, meso- and macroscopic view.

Derives 21 easy and ready to apply rules for a better design and a superior control of R and D without losinf sight of high scientific standards.

The world's leading experts contribute to our understanding of regional innovation, cluster formation and the factors that influence regional productivity and innovative performance. The text improves our understanding of the reasons why, how and where innovation clusters emerge, as well as the factors that determine their respective success or failure. In doing so, it provides a timely and comprehensive picture on innovation, location, networks and clusters as important means in an environment of intensifying interregional competition. The book is written for professional researchers as well as for students and practitioners in politics, business and consultancy.

Impacts of technological change have historically been assessed only after the passage of a significant period of time. It is then that historians recreate the decisions that were made, sort out the influencing factors, and debate in hindsight the options that were available at the time. Sheldon Krimsky, consistent with the importance of his subject, telescopes this process by providing to contemporary readers a broad overview of the first ten years of the industrial revolution in applied molecular genetics. He discusses the birth and expectations of the biotechnology industry, the response to products of genetic engineering, perspectives on risk assessment from different sectors of the scientific community, and public initiatives to regulate new products. The author explores the social and political discourse on the direction of biotechnology, and offers the most detailed examination to date of the controversy over the environmental release of genetically engineered organisms. Finally, he takes a critical look at the conventional role of technology assessment and suggests an alternative model that fits more closely with the needs of an environmentally sensitive world.

Krimsky's thought-provoking work offers readers a unique opportunity to understand what questions were being asked, what options were available, and what decisions were being made when the industrial application of genetic technologies was still in its infancy. His insider's perspective will interest those working in the fields of biology and social issues; science, technology, and society; and the sociology of science. Challenging, cautioning, and balanced, this book is required reading for all who are seriously concerned with the relationship of emerging technologies to society.

This important book provides a comprehensive analysis of the impact of privatization on the economic performance of companies in Central and Eastern Europe. It sheds new light on the achievements and shortcomings of the privatization process and draws out lessons for the future. After considering the theoretical issues surrounding privatization, the authors provide an in-depth examination of corporate governance and company performance in advanced market economies as well as transition economies. They begin with a description of the main principles, techniques and results of privatization in Bulgaria, Estonia, Hungary and Poland. A statistical and econometric analysis of extensive company-level data and interviews from a large number of firms between 1990 and 1997 is then conducted to discover the main factors in changing economic performance. Using this information the authors compare the transformation of the company sectors in the four countries, and in addition assess company restructuring from the perspective of West European privatizations. Privatization and Economic Performance in Central Eastern Europe will be of interest to policymakers in governments and international organizations and those working in the fields of microeconomics, industrial organization and transition studies.

This volume discusses the latest techniques and their economic applications for modern industries like computer, pharmaceutical, banking and other manaufacturing. These industries are most important for a growing economy. Both econometric and mathematical programming techniques are analyzed so as to develop a synthetic approach. The industrial applications not only emphasize the various aspects of R&D spending, advertisement expenditure and imperfect market structures, but also assess the economic benefits of measuring some specific performance paremers in the light of policy reforms adopted in a growing economy.

This innovative book analyses the role and importance of investment in knowledge and fixed capital as two distinct sources of technological change. It provides a balance to most of the recent literature on technological change, which focuses almost exclusively on R&D and intangible investment in innovation and technological assets. The author shows how innovative investment in fixed capital still represents a central part of innovation in firms. The book begins by reviewing the major economic approaches to technology and innovation. It discusses the progressive shift from capital (embodied) investment to disembodied investment including R&D and design. Using one of the most extensive data sources, Rinaldo Evangelista empirically tests whether disembodied technological activities are more important than traditional investment in productive capital. Perhaps surprisingly, the evidence suggests that fixed productive capital emerges as the most relevant and widespread source of investment in innovation across firms and industrial sectors. The author concludes that even in high-tech industries embodied and disembodied technological activities are complementary rather than substitutive. This book will be welcomed by those interested in technological and innovation studies, industrial organization and business strategy.

With China's eminent entry into the World Trade Organization, past speculations of China becoming a world economic power in the 21st century is a reality with which few would disagree. We are witnessing the awakening of many sleepy giants, such as the successful reformed state-owned as well as township and village enterprises. We are also witnessing the birth and growth of a significant private sector, along with ever-increasing foreign investments. In this development process, there is a critical need to document and theorize about the management process by firms in this changing and dynamic context.
The Management of Enterprises in the People's Republic of China aims to contribute to the knowledge base of management within the Chinese context. The book begins with a mapping of research on management in PRC, and offers theoretical insights for cross-context, institutional, and behavioral studies. It then reports the results of fourteen empirical studies of management issues in the PRC firms. The issues studied include SOE transformation, globalization, governance, employment relationships, managerial networks, corporate culture and leadership. Also included are studies on the knowledge management process and management team characteristics of high technology firms. The methods of study include large-scale surveys, case studies, and interviews. The contributors are international experts in Chinese management research. Finally, we offer executive perspectives on several successful firms operating in China through interviews with their CEOs.

A host of internationally recognized experts have been brought together to examine one of the most important sectors in today's world economy, the information sector. The study utilizes the most recent quantitative and econometric research on the media and information sectors and their markets. Most of the work presented is from two international conferences and other invited conferences.

One of the most striking paradoxes of our time has been the growing importance of regions in the face of a globalizing economy. This insightful book explains the dynamics of regions in a global economy and sheds light on the role of knowledge in driving regional growth. The author examines the way in which regions grow by receiving knowledge from surrounding regions. Using evolutionary theory, she advances the argument that knowledge spillovers operate locally. Computer-simulations analyse the impact of knowledge spillovers on economic growth across European regions. Finally, the author uses new original data on, among others, patents and research and development to demonstrate differences in economic and innovative activity across regions.

Black business activity has been sustained in America for almost four centuries. From the marketing and trading activities of African slaves in Colonial America to the rise of 20th-century black corporate America, African American participation in self-employed economic activities has been a persistent theme in the black experience. Yet, unlike other topics in African American history, the study of black business has been limited. General reference sources on the black experience--with their emphasis on social, cultural, and political life--provide little information on topics related to the history of black business. This invaluable encyclopedia is the only reference source providing information on the broad range of topics that illuminate black business history.

Providing readily accessible information on the black business experience, the encyclopedia provides an overview of black business activities, and underscores the existence of a historic tradition of black American business participation. Entries range from biographies of black business people to overview surveys of business activities from the 1600s to the 1990s, including slave and free black business activities and the Black Wallstreet to coverage of black women's business activities, and discussions of such African American specific industries as catering, funeral enterprises, insurance, and hair care and cosmetic products. Also, there are entries on blacks in the automotive parts industry, black investment banks, black companies listed on the stock market, blacks and corporate America, civil rights and black business, and black athletes and business activities.

The mining industry traditionally has not incorporated behavioral science concepts in its organizational philosophy. Using it as a case study, "Organization and Development in the Mining Industry" describes organization development in action, reviews principles and lessons from short -- and long-term programs of intervention, and presents case studies which illustrate the process of organizational change.

In the last few years, most parts of the world have morphed into an electronically interdependent economic unit where a disruption in one marketplace affects the others. New technologies have emerged, transforming the ways we do business and, consequently, redesigning the world. Innovation in disruptive technologies pushes new and more agile firms to set new benchmarks and forces established companies to revisit existing models or re-invent themselves to stay competitive. Disruptive Technologies, Innovation and Global Redesign: Emerging Implications provides case studies as well as practical and theoretical papers on the issues surrounding disruptive technologies, innovation, global redesign. This book will be a useful reference for academics, students, policymakers and professionals in the fields of emerging and disruptive technologies, innovation, economic planning, technology and society, technology transfer, and general technology management.