26,523 research outputs found
Business models as systemic instruments for the evolution of traditional districts?
This paper aims to explore the potential role of Innovation Intermediaries in the evolution of a traditional cluster toward a service-oriented perspective. In particular, we will highlight the generative function of business models, here as market devices, in stimulating the co- evolution of Intermediary and target firmsâ strategies.Business Models, Innovation Intermediaries, Entrepreneurship, Manufacturing, Systemic Instruments
Developing a conceptual model for exploring emergence
Emergence is a fundamental property of complex systems and can be thought of as a new property or behaviour which appears due to non-linear interactions within the system; emergence may be considered to be the 'product' or by-product of the system. For example, within social systems, social capital, the World Wide Web, law and indeed civilization in general may be considered emergent, although all within different time scales. As our world becomes increasingly more interconnected, understanding how emergence arises and how to design for and manage specific types of emergence is ever more important. To date, the concept of emergence has been mainly used as an explanatory framework (as used by Johnson 2001), to inform the logic of action research (Mitleton-Kelly 2004) or as a means of exploring the range of emergent potential of simulation of real complex systems (Axelrod 2003). If we are to improve our ability to manage and control emergence, we need first to directly study the phenomenon of emergence, its causes and consequences across real complex systems
Sensemaking on the Pragmatic Web: A Hypermedia Discourse Perspective
The complexity of the dilemmas we face on an organizational, societal and global scale forces us into sensemaking activity. We need tools for expressing and contesting perspectives flexible enough for real time use in meetings, structured enough to help manage longer term memory, and powerful enough to filter the complexity of extended deliberation and debate on an organizational or global scale. This has been the motivation for a programme of basic and applied action research into Hypermedia Discourse, which draws on research in hypertext, information visualization, argumentation, modelling, and meeting facilitation. This paper proposes that this strand of work shares a key principle behind the Pragmatic Web concept, namely, the need to take seriously diverse perspectives and the processes of meaning negotiation. Moreover, it is argued that the hypermedia discourse tools described instantiate this principle in practical tools which permit end-user control over modelling approaches in the absence of consensus
Marketing space : a conceptual framework for marketing events
Despite the growing resonance of events within the marketing domain, they continue to receive scant coverage in academic literature, and remain a poor relation to other forms of marketing communication. This detracts from them realising their potential as a relevant and pervasive marketing delivery method.
Couched between the authors previous and future (ongoing) empirical work in this area, this article provides much needed conceptual development. The paper introduces the core construct of âmarketing spaceâ and associated framework. Marketing space represents the distinctive environment a marketing event creates, which is unlike that cultivated by other communication methods. Marketing space is a transient reality where representatives of an organisation come together physically, and in a planned manner, with a gathering of existing and future customerâs, clients, and wider stakeholders.
Marketing events are a grouping that comprises a wide and rich variety of event types, which can be termed âmarketing event platformsâ. These range from the largest of congresses or trade shows, to the smallest and most intimate of seminars or hospitality events. The conceptual framework of marketing space, with associated concepts provides the basis of a new lexicon for practitioners and academics interested in, and utilising, events for marketing purpose.
The paper also explores the rationale for the growing resonance of marketing events; examining the characteristics of events, including experiential, interactive, targeted, and relational. The paper ends with the introduction of two dichotomies to the lexicon of marketing eventsâ direct and indirect events, and exclusive and non exclusive events
Bridging the Gap Between Research and Practice: The Agile Research Network
We report an action research-oriented approach to investigating agile project management methods which aims to bridge the gap between academic research and agile practice. We have set up a research network of academics from two universities, through which we run focussed project-based research into agile methods. Organisations are invited to suggest an âagile challengeâ and we work closely with them to investigate how challenge affects them. Our approach is both academic and practical. We use appropriate research methods such as interviews, observation and discussion to clarify and explore the nature of the challenge. We then undertake a detailed literature review to identify practical approaches that may be appropriate for adoption, and report our findings. If the organisation introduces new practices or approaches as a result of our work, we conduct an academic evaluation. Alternatively, if we uncover an under-researched area, we propose undertaking some basic research. As befits the topic, we work iteratively and incrementally and produce regular outputs.
In this paper we introduce our approach, overview research methods used in the agile research literature, describe our research model, outline a case study, and discuss the advantages and disadvantages of our approach. We discuss the importance of producing outputs that are accessible to practitioners as well as researchers. Findings suggest that by investigating the challenges that organisations propose, we uncover problems that are of real relevance to the agile community and obtain rich insights into the facilitators and barriers that organisations face when using agile methods. Additionally, we find that practitioners are interested in research results as long as publications are relevant to their needs and are written accessibly. We are satisfied with the basic structure of our approach, but we anticipate that the method will evolve as we continue to work with collaborators
An investigation into the use of a blended model of learning
The weaknesses of âtraditionalâ modes of instruction in accounting education have been widely discussed. Many contend that the traditional approach limits the ability to provide opportunities for students to raise their competency level and allow them to apply knowledge and skills in professional problem solving situations. However, the recent body of literature suggests that accounting educators are indeed actively experimenting with ânon-traditionalâ and âinnovativeâ instructional approaches, where some authors clearly favour one approach over another. But can one instructional approach alone meet the necessary conditions for different learning objectives? Taking into account the ever changing landscape of not only business environments, but also the higher education sector, the premise guiding the collaborators in this research is that it is perhaps counter productive to promote competing dichotomous views of âtraditionalâ and ânon-traditionalâ instructional approaches to accounting education, and that the notion of âblended learningâ might provide a useful framework to enhance the learning and teaching of accounting. This paper reports on the first cycle of a longitudinal study, which explores the possibility of using blended learning in first year accounting at one campus of a large regional university. The critical elements of blended learning which emerged in the study are discussed and, consistent with the design-based research framework, the paper also identifies key design modifications for successive cycles of the research
Managing technological transitions: prospects, places, publics and policy
Transition management (TM) approaches have generated considerable interest in
academic and policy circles in recent years (Kemp and Loorbach, 2005; Rotmans and
Kemp, 2003). In terms of a loose definition, a âtransition can be defined as a gradual,
continuous process of structural change within a society or cultureâ (Rotmans et al, 2001,
p.2). The development of TM, much of which has occurred within the context of the
Netherlands, may be seen as a response to the complexities, uncertainties and problems
which confront many western societies, in organising âsustainablyâ various aspects of
energy, agricultural, water, transport and health systems of production and consumption.
Problems such as pollution, congestion, the vulnerability of energy or water supplies and
so on are seen as systemic and entwined or embedded in a series of social, economic,
political, cultural and technological relationships.
The systemic nature of many of these problems highlights the involvement - in the
functioning of a particular system and any subsequent transition - of multiple actors or
âstakeholdersâ across different local, national and international scales of activity. With this
in mind, such problems become difficult to âsolveâ and âsolutionsâ are seen to require
systemic innovation rather than individual or episodic responses. The point being that
âthese problems are system inherent and⊠the solution lies in creating different systems or
transforming existing onesâ (Kemp and Loorbach, 2005, p.125).
In this paper we critically engage with and build upon transitions approaches to address
their âapplicabilityâ in the context of the UK. In doing this the paper addresses the
prospective potential of transitions approaches, but also their relative neglect of places and
publics. Through developing an argument which addresses the strengths and âgapsâ of
transitions approaches we also analyse the resonances and dissonances between three
themes â cities and regions, public participation and national hydrogen strategy â in the
transitions literature and the UK policy context
Modelling naturalistic argumentation in research literatures: representation and interaction design issues
This paper characterises key weaknesses in the ability of current digital libraries to support scholarly inquiry, and as a way to address these, proposes computational services grounded in semiformal models of the naturalistic argumentation commonly found in research lteratures. It is argued that a design priority is to balance formal expressiveness with usability, making it critical to co-evolve the modelling scheme with appropriate user interfaces for argument construction and analysis. We specify the requirements for an argument modelling scheme for use by untrained researchers, describe the resulting ontology, contrasting it with other domain modelling and semantic web approaches, before discussing passive and intelligent user interfaces designed to support analysts in the construction, navigation and analysis of scholarly argument structures in a Web-based environment
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