Emerging innovation modes and (regional) innovation systems in the Czech Republic

Innovation studies literature has put high importance to sectoral and regional patterns of innovations. This research effort is based upon the argument that industries as well as regions represent quite homogeneous entities with respect to firms’ innovation strategies. To the contrary, evolutionary approaches assign more importance to firms’ heterogeneity and hence look for groups of firms characterised by similar innovation strategies cutting across the traditional boundaries. The purpose of this paper is to characterize the innovation strategies of Czech firms using explanatory factor analysis and thus first contribute to a better understanding of innovative activities and second, explore whether the identified divergence in innovation patterns can be attributed to the localized conditions or whether it is rather firmspecific. Finally, the paper will discuss the implications of these findings for the literature on territorial systems of innovation, particularly the question how the systems should be delineated, as well as implications for (regional) innovation policy.innovation, regional systems of innovation, factor analysis.

Past, present and future of information and knowledge sharing in the construction industry: Towards semantic service-based e-construction

The paper reviews product data technology initiatives in the construction sector and provides a synthesis of related ICT industry needs. A comparison between (a) the data centric characteristics of Product Data Technology (PDT) and (b) ontology with a focus on semantics, is given, highlighting the pros and cons of each approach. The paper advocates the migration from data-centric application integration to ontology-based business process support, and proposes inter-enterprise collaboration architectures and frameworks based on semantic services, underpinned by ontology-based knowledge structures. The paper discusses the main reasons behind the low industry take up of product data technology, and proposes a preliminary roadmap for the wide industry diffusion of the proposed approach. In this respect, the paper stresses the value of adopting alliance-based modes of operation

The Implementation and Audit of Internal Controls Regarding the Use of XBRL for Financial Statements

XBRL is a global standard developed to aid in more accurate and efficient business reporting by capitalizing on interactive data. All business processes possess benefits and risk; including XBRL based financial reporting. Management and Internal Auditors must determine the risks associated and implement internal controls to mediate the indicated risks. This paper explores the risks and controls associated with XBRL. The research was completed through performing a literature review of professional and academic articles. This information was backed up with information gained from various accounting professionals in both the internal and external audit fields. The Capstone seeks to answer the question: To what degree is XBRL-based financial statements being reviewed by internal audit compared to the amount of risk assessment deserved on this process. This paper discusses the control options for process owners to implement and test to audit the effectiveness of such controls. The research ultimately found that internal audit and external audit do very little to ensure the financial accuracy of XBRL-based financial statements, whiles companies still have full liability over this interactive data. The ultimate goal is to inform internal audit professionals on the importance of implementing and testing controls within XBRL-based financial reporting.B.A. (Bachelor of Arts

An Ontological Approach to XBRL Financial Statement Reporting

As a standard for the exchange, transmission, and reporting of accounting and financial data, XRBL goes a long way towardstandardization. However, as the extent of contemporary financial markets is now global, XBRL reporting must transcend oraccommodate differences in reporting standards. While XBRL has been of great help in standardizing the presentation of theU.S. GAAP and IASB standards, reconciling meaning between these standards is still a manual and error-prone affair. As awide variety of stakeholders, spanning countries and cultures, will likely take part in digesting XBRL-formatted financialreports; how will they participate at an appropriate level that is meaningful for them? This paper focuses on an ontologicalapproach towards solving this problem by offering an XBRL ontology architecture for translation between XBRL formats.The architecture is explained, evaluation criteria offered, and future research towards realizing artifacts which use thisarchitecture are proffered

Visual Management in Brazilian Construction Companies: Taxonomy and Guidelines for Implementation

Visual management (VM) is the managerial strategy of consciously integrating visual tools in workspaces with the aim of increasing transparency on construction sites. Several VM tools and approaches that had been originally developed in the manufacturing context were implemented in construction. However, research on the application of VM in construction as a managerial strategy is scarce. This paper aims to investigate and classify the types of visual devices that can be used in construction sites through multiple case studies carried out in nine construction companies actively implementing VM. It also discusses strategies for the implementation of VM in construction. The main contributions of this investigation are: (1) a VM tools taxonomy that can be used to identify VM application opportunities, providing a basis for evaluating the level of VM implementation in construction; and (2) identification of critical factors for the implementation and various features of the VM strategy in construction